There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 113 Night Battle
Xing Zhao had to run away. Changde was surrounded by the Han army and was in danger from all sides.

Now even Yuanjiang has been lost. Yuanjiang County is located on the border of Changde and Changsha. The Han soldiers who captured Yuanjiang as mentioned by the long-servant who reported the news are not the same as the ones besieging the city now, because the troop strength is not matched.

This is going to completely wrap Changde into dumpling filling!
Hu Wenquan sat on the city wall, feeling disheartened. Xing Zhao was planning to flee with the Manchu soldiers, leaving behind the Green and Brave Battalions to garrison. He could tell that Xing Zhao was treating them like abandoned pawns.

Once Xingzhao takes the Manchu soldiers away, there is no need to defend the city of Changde. Judging from the persuasion and killing of people in the past few days, I am afraid that someone will turn against their own side and surrender the city in an instant.

Even if the city is not surrendered, Changde Prefecture will not be able to be defended for a few days.

Changde City was broken, and he, the prefect of Changde, had basically no chance of survival. It was just like Jingzhou City. Both of them were strategic cities. If they were lost, he would be sentenced according to the crime of losing land, or be severely punished.

This is also why Xingzhao did not take Hu Wenquan with him to escape.

At night, the Manchu soldiers on the city wall quietly came down from the wall under the pretext of changing guard, and changed their route to the west gate, where the Han soldiers were the weakest.

Surround three sides and leave one side open, this is the traditional siege tactic. If the Qing army is really surrounded, they may fight to the death!

Xing Zhao was afraid that his breakout during the day would be discovered, so he chose to withdraw his troops at night. In order to paralyze the generals of the Green Camp and the Brave Camp, he took out the silver that had been saved and divided it up.

It's really the bottom of the box. These are all the silvers that Xingzhao left behind to pay for his crimes.

Without this money, he would have no money to give to the Emperor when he returned to Beijing.

But I can’t care about so many things now. The first thing is to save my life. If I can’t even save my life, what’s the point of having money?

“Da~da~da~!”

More than a thousand Manchu soldiers, all of them holding their tongues and with their horses' hooves bound, quietly crept to the west city gate.

"Buzz~~!"

The city gate opened, causing quite a bit of noise, but the guards from the Yongying Camp surrounding the gate had already been withdrawn.

When the people living near the city wall saw that there were Manchu soldiers outside, they all closed their doors and windows and did not dare to come out.

More than a thousand people left the city, and they didn't even dare to light torches, which really took a lot of time and effort.

When all the Manchu soldiers had left the city, Xingzhao immediately mounted his horse and led his troops to charge into the encirclement in the direction where torches were scarce.

"The Qing dogs have left the city!"

A few miles west of the city, the Han soldier lookout also discovered the situation and quickly sent a message via walkie-talkie while blowing the alarm bugle.

"Dududududu da da da..."

When the bugle call sounded, the Han soldiers surrounding the west of the city were awakened from their sleep and quickly assembled in formation.

There was only one captain in charge here, named Zhu Qi, a refugee from a different background, who had joined the old battalion in the uprising against the Qing Dynasty. Because he was brave and daring, he was quickly promoted, but when he became captain, he found it difficult to move up.

It wasn't that he couldn't achieve great feats, but rather that he was too aggressive. He was fierce and reckless on the battlefield, but he was also reckless in his dealings with others. He could achieve military feats, but he was always making mistakes and offending people, which prevented him from getting promoted. Even his immediate boss, Bai Nan, was troubled by him.

"Come with me and stop these Qing dogs!"

Zhu Qi was indeed very reckless. He actually led a group of infantrymen to stop the charging Manchu cavalry.

Xing Zhao also saw the torches of the Han soldiers surrounding him, and he decided to ignore the Han soldiers and break out by force. There were too many Manchu soldiers under his command, more than a thousand of them, and they were too big a target, so it was impossible to sneak up on them.

We just hope that the Han soldiers will discover it later. Now that we are exposed, we can just force our way into the siege.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

"Shhhhhhh!"

In the dark night, the Han soldiers' crossbowmen shot arrows.

The Manchu soldiers had no torches, so they could hardly see the people. They could only shoot arrows following the sound of horse hooves, but they still shot down many people.

There was no other way. They were all too close to each other. The Manchu soldiers didn't light torches, so they could only try their best to follow the friendly forces, otherwise they would easily fall behind and be surrounded.

"Shhhhhhh!"

The crossbowman had only fired two rounds of arrows when the Manchu soldiers bypassed the Han soldiers who were surrounding Zhu Qi.

Cavalry certainly wasn't afraid of infantry, even with crossbows and spears. But Xing Zhao was afraid of being entangled by the Han soldiers, which would prevent him from escaping.

Zhu Qi was a little annoyed, but he calmed down after being annoyed. He no longer fought back blindly, but instead deliberately surrounded the enemy with a torch.

Although they said they were encircling the enemy, the Han soldiers were outnumbered and could not encircle the enemy, so they were simply driving them away.

Zhu Qi wanted to drive these Manchu soldiers to the trenches, chevaux de frise, and caltrops that had been dug earlier.

The Changde Prefecture City at that time.

Xing Zhao fled out of the city with the Manchu soldiers, and the Green Camp, Brave Camp and officials of all ranks who were left behind in the city just discovered it.

It was not that they discovered it themselves, but that the Han soldiers suddenly made a big noise and a large number of torches went around to the west of the city.

Another rider, holding a torch, came to tell them: "The Qing dogs have escaped, those Eight Banners masters have already fled! Why don't you surrender?"

After the words were spoken, no one even verified it, because those Manchu Eight Banners soldiers did indeed sneak away during the day on the pretext of changing guard.

Many Green Camp officers were wary, but at the time they didn't understand what the Manchu soldiers were going to do, so they just thought that they didn't want to fight and wanted to be lazy.

Now we know that they were abandoned and ran away.

"Brothers, the Qing dogs have escaped! Those Eight Banners Tartar dogs have escaped and surrendered the city to the Han with us!"

"Xu Wu, are you going to rebel against the imperial court?"

"Traitor! I'm driving out the barbarians."

"Kill the Qing dogs!" The Qing army on the city wall quickly fell into a fierce battle. Some Green Camp soldiers defected on the spot, while others were unwilling to defect and remained loyal to the Qing court. These people were not really loyal, but they were reluctant to give up their families and wealth, and they also felt that the Han army's tail would not last long.

The Green Camp Qing troops on the city wall started a fight, but the Han troops outside ignored them.

Bai Nan and Xu Sanlang left some troops behind to continue watching the Changde City, while the rest of the troops all rushed to the west of the city to intercept and encircle the fleeing Manchu soldiers.

There was no need to rush to intercept and pursue them because the Manchu soldiers could no longer escape.

The Manchu soldiers wanted to escape and not fight the Han soldiers head-on, but the Han soldiers kept chasing them and leading the Manchu soldiers into the trap trench.

Human eyes can hardly see clearly at night, let alone the beastly eyes of war horses, which are almost blind and can easily fall into a pit if not careful.

If you fall in, you will either be pierced by the barbs in the trench and become a hedgehog, or fall off your horse and break a few bones.

If you are lucky enough, you may even encounter the Han soldiers who will attack you with their swords.

"Hurry, follow me and kill these rebels first!"

Xing Zhao was disgusted and realized that he would not be able to escape unless he killed the hundreds of Han soldiers in front of him.

The Manchu soldiers, who numbered more than a thousand at the beginning, were reduced to only a few hundred due to falling behind, getting lost, or being killed by various traps and crossbows.

It’s not impossible to fight a few hundred cavalry against a few hundred infantry!

"Da da da!"

"Shhhhhh!"

After a round of crossbow arrows were fired, several people fell off their horses.

"Wolf spears, long spears, form a formation!"

Without any order from General Zhu Qi, the front-line team leader immediately shouted.

Dozens of wolf-whips and long spears were erected, turning into human chevaux de frise.

The Manchu cavalry at the front charged forward and knocked down several Han soldiers, but they were also stabbed and crushed by the wolf-whips and spears.

"Shhhhhh!"

In the rear, the crossbowmen seized the opportunity and fired another volley of arrows.

Xing Zhao, the general of Jingzhou, narrowly avoided the attack by noticing the reflection of the spear and reined in his horse.

Those Han soldiers were hit by the war horses, and some of them were almost injured internally. However, they did not retreat. Instead, when they heard the order, their muscles reacted and formed a strange battle formation, and actively advanced forward.

This is actually the rebel army?
Xing Zhao was terrified to see such strict discipline. What the hell is this going to do?

Xing Zhao was about to rein in his horse and flee, not even thinking about dealing with Zhu Qi's Han soldiers. He had to run quickly, even if it meant sacrificing all the Manchu soldiers.

Unfortunately, there is no chance anymore, he has wasted too much time here.

Bai Nan and Xu Sanlang had already rushed over with their troops. Not only did the Han soldiers arrive, but the Yongying Battalion from Changde Prefecture also arrived. These guys did not participate in the fighting, but rushed out directly through the west gate.

On weekdays, because they were the Yongying Battalion, which was considered a temporarily recruited training army, they were bullied by both the Manchu soldiers and the Green Camp soldiers. They were at the bottom of the Qing army and did not even have a chance to participate in the Qing army's gunfights.

Now, the Han soldiers were chasing the Manchu soldiers, and those Manchu soldiers had abandoned Changde Prefecture and fled.

Now, not only can we settle old and new grudges together, but we can also kill the high-ranking Eight Banners lords in the past and make military achievements as well!

"Brothers, follow the Han soldiers to kill the Qing dogs and the Tartars!"

All the brave camps were training their troops, from the generals to the soldiers, all of them became very motivated and brave.

"Da da da!"

Although he was brave, his fighting ability was really worrying. Xing Zhao couldn't break out from the front, and Han soldiers and the brave camp in the city came from behind. He decisively drew his sword and charged towards those brave camps.

The brave camp that had just left the city was instantly dispersed and defeated, and their minds were also awakened.

The Han soldiers were not in a hurry either. The water route was blocked by bandits from Dongting Lake, so they directly surrounded the Manchu troops from three directions.

Xingzhao has no way to retreat!

He wanted to fight to the death, but there were too many Han soldiers, and the military quality of both sides was so different that even if he was willing to fight to the death, the Manchu soldiers were not willing to fight with him.

"I am Fuzhina, Hesheli Fuzhina. We are all from the Eight Banners of Manchuria. Don't fight anymore. Turn your back on your enemies and follow me now. At least you can survive!" Fuzhina rode out on horseback. His Manchurian cotton armor was clearly visible under the torches of the Han soldiers.

Xing Zhao's face changed drastically, and he quickly shouted: "Don't be fooled, if you surrender now, you will die..."

Before he could finish his words, Fu Zhina interrupted him: "Jingzhou General Xing Zhao made a mistake in his decision, which led to the fall of Changde Prefecture. We managed to break through, but suffered heavy losses. General Xing Zhao also died fighting bravely, and his death will atone for his sins!"

Xing Zhao was stunned and said angrily: "You..."

“Puff!”

With a knife in the back, Xing Zhao was knocked off his horse on the spot.

Defu also jumped off his horse, drew his sword, and cut the man's throat with incredible accuracy.

He lifted the head and trotted to Fu Zhi's horse, holding it in his hands and shouting, "General Fu, General Xing Zhao of Jingzhou has died in battle. He shall die to atone for his crime!"

Xing Zhao, the general of Jingzhou, was ambushed and hacked to death by the deputy governor-general Defu. Some Manchu soldiers chose to turn and flee, while others dismounted and knelt in surrender. In short, no one wanted to fight to the death.

The Yongying Battalion, which had been defeated before, became brave again when they saw that they had the support of Han soldiers, and took the initiative to chase and kill the fleeing Manchu soldiers.

The majority bullied the minority, and the Manchu soldiers no longer had the courage to fight. They were soon caught up, and even their horses were overturned by a group of people.

(End of this chapter)