The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

The sound of cannons roared, and dozens of artillery pieces continuously spewed large amounts of fierce flames and smoke forward. The rising heat waves swept away the snowflakes falling from the sky.

Amid the sound of thunder, cast iron cannonballs weighing from a few pounds to twenty or thirty pounds kept whistling towards the city wall in front, stirring up countless pieces of gravel and dust, and the entire city wall seemed to be shaking.

Amid the whistling sound, the Dashun artillery fired wave after wave, and thick smoke and dust rose under the fierce bombardment. After three days and three nights of bombardment, many parts of the city wall were blown apart, especially in the direction of Fushengmen, which was the main attack point. All the bronze cannons were here, and the city gate was even more smashed to pieces, and the bricks and stones behind it could be clearly seen.

In order to defend the inner city and wait for Fu Kang'an's reinforcements, the Sixth Prince ordered the city gates to be sealed, which was also a desperate move, leaving no way of retreat.

Thirty bronze cannons took turns firing, cooling down as they went along, so that the bombardment was uninterrupted.

With a loud "bang", a cast iron cannonball weighing more than 20 kilograms hit the crack in the city wall hard, creating a big gap in the broken wall. Immediately afterwards, another iron egg hit the gap heavily, and bricks and stones flew. The Eight Banners soldiers who rushed over to repair the city wall rolled to the ground, covering their heads and faces, and screaming loudly.

"Blow up these bastards!" Liu Quan shouted and jumped excitedly.

On his left, Heshen held a monocular telescope and pointed it towards Fushengmen, paying attention to the situation there.

Through his clairvoyance, Heshen discovered that there were many more cracks in the gap that were big enough for him to put his palm into, and perhaps the city wall would collapse next time.

He Shen put down his telescope and smiled. He knew the situation in the inner city better than anyone else. The lime was almost gone. Without the lime, it would be difficult to repair the city walls destroyed by artillery fire. The city would fall today.

The outer city had been breached three days ago, with such a smooth attack that Heshen couldn't believe it. The Eight Banners soldiers defending the city almost collapsed at the first blow. The Dashun army occupied the outer city in less than a day and seized dozens of artillery pieces and a large amount of baggage.

In the past few days, the Dashun government troops bombarded the city walls while driving the Jurchen people to fill the moat, using human lives to fill two passages outside Fushengmen and Deshengmen.

Now everything is ready, just waiting for the city wall to collapse!

The bronze cannon fired very accurately, and under the fierce bombardment, the gap became bigger and bigger. A red-topped military officer roared hysterically and chopped down several retreating Eight Banners soldiers in a row. The other Eight Banners soldiers had to rush forward carrying earth bags under the artillery fire to try to block the gap.

Liu Quan started cursing loudly.

Li Hu's flag carriage was also moved outside the Fusheng Gate. In the middle of the carriage stood a flagpole more than two meters high. On the flagpole, the big flag fluttered in the wind.

Li Hu looked at Liu Quan who was jumping and dancing, then looked at Heshen whose eyes were shining with excitement, and shook his head with a smile.

Wang Daniu put down the telescope and said with a smile: "We can capture the inner city today."

Zhang Xi, Bai Wu, Xue Ke, the general of Xuanfu and others nodded.

At this time, a scout came galloping in front of Li Hu, pulled the reins, jumped off the horse, and reported loudly: "Your Majesty, we caught a few Tartar scouts. Fu Kang'an crossed the Daling River yesterday!"

Li Hu's eyes flashed, so fast? !

The scout said: "According to the spies, Fukangan won a tragic victory in the battle in the north of Beijing, and encountered a blizzard when crossing the mountain road. Many people froze to death, probably 50,000 to 60,000 people."

Li Hu's eyes lit up.

At this moment, Wang Yaozu came on horseback and presented a memorial box with chicken feathers stuck on it: "Your Highness, this is an urgent letter from the capital."

Li Hu took out the express delivery from the box and opened it to have a look. He was startled at first, then he blinked his eyes. Was the Supreme Emperor really so happy that he died?

Now that the Supreme Emperor has died, only orphans and widows are left in the royal family. What a sin!
Li Hu suddenly remembered that this was the best time to take Shanhaiguan! Yes, after destroying Fukangan, he could take Shanhaiguan and open up the road to the pass!

There was a loud "boom" and the earth shook.

Li Hu looked in the direction of the sound and saw a cloud of dust rising from the side of Fusheng Gate. Under the continuous bombardment of artillery fire, that section of the city wall finally couldn't bear it and collapsed.

With a swish, Li Hu suddenly drew out his sword, pointed it at the inner city of Shengjing, and shouted sternly: "Charge into the city and kill anyone who resists!" The herald immediately waved the command flag, and then the sound of heavy drums began.

"kill!"

As the war drums sounded, the Dashun army, which had been waiting for a long time, roared to the sky, waving their swords and spears, bursting with murderous aura, and swept towards the inner city of Shengjing.
The city of Shengjing was filled with flames and thick smoke, which could be seen from miles away.

In the heavy snow, several pairs of angry eyes were looking at Shengjing City in the distance.

A Jurchen spy spoke up: "Let's go, the Han scouts will be chasing us soon." After that, he whipped the horse hard and rushed forward like an arrow.

Several other Jurchen spies followed on horseback and disappeared in the snow.

After an unknown amount of time, a team of scouts came galloping over, took a careful look, and chased in the direction where the Jurchen spy disappeared.

It was already dusk when the palace was breached. Li Hu then entered the inner city under the protection of the crowd. The streets were filled with corpses and the strong smell of blood.

In the biting snow and wind, the gates of the Tartar palace were wide open. The Sixth Prince led the princes, nobles, civil and military officials hiding in the palace and knelt on the snow, waiting to be dealt with.

Amid the sound of horse hooves, Li Hu appeared riding on a big white horse.

Li Hu looked at this somewhat shabby palace, feeling infinite emotion and excitement in his heart. No matter how small Liaodong was, it was still a country. This was the merit of destroying a country! In historical evaluations, it was regarded as a top military achievement. Military generals who had the merit of destroying a country would be included in the list of famous generals!

The Sixth Prince laid his head on the snow, and when he noticed that his horse had stopped in front of him, he hurriedly picked up the golden seal box in front of him and said loudly: "The Prince of the Qing Dynasty, Aixinjueluo Yongrong, surrenders to the Prince of Zhenbei!"

Surrender? Li Hu looked at him, then glanced at Wang Daniu, signaling him to surrender.

Wang Daniu dismounted, took the golden seal box from his hand, walked up to Li Hu and presented it to him.

Li Hu opened the seal box and took out the Jurchen imperial seal with both hands. His eyes seemed to be attracted by an invisible force. He stared at the seal and stroked it gently.

It took Li Hu a while to come back to his senses and he sighed in his heart: What a pity it is not the imperial seal!

After putting the jade seal into the saddle bag, Li Hu said to the Sixth Prince: "You are a royal family member. I will not kill you. When the war is over, I will send you to the capital."

Upon hearing this, the Sixth Prince felt relieved and quickly said, "Thank you, Your Highness, for not killing me!" After saying that, he kowtowed three times and then lay on the ground without saying anything else.

Li Hu looked at the princes and ministers again, then gave Xue Ke a wink.

Xue Ke understood and immediately ordered people to take them all away.

Li Hu turned around and said loudly: "Let's go visit the Tartar palace!" As he said that, he squeezed his legs together, rode his horse straight into the palace.

The generals followed.

At this moment, someone shouted, "Long live!"

The silence lasted only a moment, and then the officers and soldiers outside the palace gate shouted "Long live the emperor" in unison.

Wang Daniu and Bai Wu's eyes met, and they both showed a look of relief.

The general of Xuanfu was surprised, then he looked around calmly, and seeing that all the generals looked as if they had not heard anything, he blinked his eyes wildly. (End of this chapter)