There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 165 The Will of the People

The Han army bombarded the city walls of Hanyang for a day, but the walls did not collapse. Instead, the houses near the city walls were reduced to ruins.

Several sections of the parapet were also bombarded and collapsed. All the Qing soldiers on those sections of the wall had fled, and no one tried to suppress them, because even their officers were running away.

The shelling outside the city didn't stop until evening.

Carrying a lantern, Zhang Wuwei climbed the city wall again and saw that the entire parapet of the city wall had been completely destroyed, exposing the rammed earth layer inside, and the craters left behind could also be seen.

There wasn't a single Qing soldier to be seen on the road. Before long, he kicked something. Looking closely with his lantern, he saw a pool of red and white stuff.

"Ugh~"

It was so disgusting that the accompanying advisor, Hou, vomited on the spot.

Zhang Wuwei remained expressionless, his gaze shifting to the shell rolling to the side. The shell was larger than a human head and covered with unidentified white and red residue.

"Ugh~"

He couldn't hold back any longer and vomited for a long time, even bringing up the acid in his stomach, before he felt a little better.

Zhang Wuwei had no time to appease the soldiers. He hurriedly left the city wall and, instead of convening a meeting with the officials and gentry in the city, ordered his advisor to select a few smart and capable men to immediately leave the city, cross the river, and seek help from the provincial governor, Chen Wangzhi.

In just one day, things have deteriorated to this point. How can he possibly defend anything?
As night fell, the Han army returned to their camp to rest.

Several men dressed in black, with chopsticks in their mouths, furtively carried baskets out of the city.

One of them went straight along the river and took a detour, while three of the other four scattered and ran away, and the third simply ran towards the Han army camp.

Before he could reach the camp, he was spotted by the watchtower, and several Han soldiers rushed up and captured him.

The man, instead of being afraid, was delighted and kept shouting, "I'm from Hanyang! I have urgent military intelligence to report to the General! I have urgent military intelligence to report to the General!"

Not long after.

"General, we've captured a man outside who claims to be from Hanyang City and has urgent military intelligence to report!"

"Bring him in."

Nie Yu was somewhat surprised. He had only bombarded the city with cannons for a day, and had only managed to destroy part of the surface of the city wall, yet people were already coming to surrender.

When the man was brought in, upon seeing the obviously distinguished Nie Yu (the youngest person present), he immediately knelt down and exclaimed, "This humble one greets the Great General Who Opposes the Qing and Restores the Han!"

Nie Yu asked, "Do you know me?"

The man replied, “I am Huang Er. I have never met the General, but I have heard of his great reputation. My master has also long admired the might of the Han army, but he has never had the opportunity to join them. Now that the Han army has finally come to Hanyang, my master has long been thinking of welcoming the royal army with food and drink.”

"No need for formalities," Nie Yu said, shaking his head. "Just get to the point! What military intelligence does your master need you to report?"

Huang Er said, "The prefect sent five of us, including myself, to cross the river to Wuchang to ask the provincial governor for help. Three of the five ran away, one went to the riverbank, and only I came here to deliver the message."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Yang Fang, who had accompanied Nie Yu on this expedition, suddenly laughed and said, "General, congratulations! It seems that Hanyang will be easily taken by our army in just a few days!"

Huang Er's few simple words revealed a great deal of information.

On the first day of the bombardment of Hanyang, the prefect of Hanyang was so panicked that he sent people out of the city to ask for help late at night. Of the five people who asked for help, only one person may have crossed the river to ask for help. The other three ran away directly, and Huang Er simply ran to their Han army camp to inform them.

What does this mean? It means that the daytime bombardment of Hanyang has almost completely destroyed the morale of the few remaining soldiers in the city.

No wonder Yang Fang said that Hanyang would be captured by the Han army soon, and easily at that.

Nie Yu nodded slightly, not too surprised. The strategic initiative had always been in the hands of the Han army. Taking Hanyang and Wuchang was the established strategic goal, it was just a matter of time.

Nie Yu then asked Huang Er, "What's the situation in the city now? Which family does your master belong to? How many soldiers does he have? Can he cooperate with this general to seize the city in one fell swoop?"

Using an inside agent to capture a city is definitely more cost-effective than directly attacking it.

Even if they fail, they will only lose one defector; if they succeed, they can reduce troop casualties and supplies of food and ammunition.

Huang Er naturally told him everything he knew. The military intelligence reports from Hanyang City, including the fact that Prefect Zhang Wuwei violated regulations by opening the granaries to distribute grain, and even how tender and beautiful his master's concubine was... cough cough, in short, all the important and unimportant information was sold out.

Nie Yu wasn't entirely sure before, thinking that Hanyang, being a major city and adjacent to Wuchang, the provincial capital, should at least have some Qing troops stationed there.

As it turned out, who could have imagined that this huge city of Hanyang, which controlled the confluence of three rivers, was an economic hub on the Yangtze River and the future site of the Hanyang Ironworks, would be guarded by only a few thousand able-bodied men?

With such fighting power, why would the Han army need to waste any effort testing them? They could simply launch a direct assault and capture the city in a day. However, Nie Yu wasn't entirely convinced. Instead, he sent the other party back to the city to rally the wealthy and powerful families who had similar ideas.

That evening, Huang Er had only been out of the city for an hour when he returned.

Interestingly, none of the soldiers who hoisted Huang Er up reported the news.

It was almost midnight, around 1 a.m.

In the Huang residence in Hanyang, Huang Yongsheng secretly summoned two well-known wealthy families: "Brothers, it seems that Hanyang is about to fall. Our prefect is unwilling to surrender or commit suicide to save face. Instead, he wants to ask the governor of Wuchang for help."

Master Zhang, who arrived at the Huang residence late at night, shook his head: "Brother Huang, you may not know the situation in Wuchang, but I do. There are at least tens of thousands of troops in Wuchang. If we make any moves now, and the government troops drive the rebels away, we will be doomed, with no way out!"

Huang Yongsheng couldn't help but sneer: "What room for maneuver? You're already prepared to surrender, and you still want room for maneuver? As for the soldiers in Wuchang, don't think I don't know. If our soldiers in Hanyang are like this, how much better can the soldiers in Wuchang be? Besides, you've all seen the Han army's cannons. Such large cannons, let alone us, even the prefect probably hasn't seen them in his life. Hanyang and Wuchang on the other side of the river absolutely cannot withstand the Han army's cannons. Now seize the opportunity, and you and I will both have the great merit of surrendering the city. Otherwise, if we wait until the city is about to fall before surrendering, it will be too late."

Upon hearing this, the other Mr. Li disagreed, instead showing concern and saying, "It's better to be safe than sorry! If the rebels attack, even if we surrender the city, we might not be able to keep our land, and we'll be at risk. But if the government troops come, although we'll suffer a bit now and have to hand over grain, it's still better than handing over our land!"

Huang Yongsheng was somewhat exasperated: "You all only think about the land. Can't you have any ambition? Now that you've surrendered to the Han army, when the Han army sweeps across the world, we will all be meritorious officials who followed the emperor."

Master Zhang interjected, "We'll have to wait until the rebels establish their own country. Right now, the rebels only have so little territory; it's still a long way off. Our family's wealth is the result of our ancestors' hard work and struggle; we can't afford to squander it like this. Your Huang family started as merchants and didn't own much land, so you won't feel bad about giving it away. But our Zhang family made our fortune on land. If we hand over our land, who will support our entire family?"

Master Li nodded in agreement: "You're right, we should still be cautious. At the very least, we should wait. What if the provincial governor sends troops?"

Huang Yongsheng was furious and immediately flung his sleeves, saying, "Hmph! This brat is not worth talking to."

The three parted on bad terms.

Only an hour or two passed, and it was just past the hour of Yin (3-5 AM).

The night watchman was yawning as he went out when he suddenly saw some light on the side of the street.

"What...no...it's terrible! Fire! Help! Put out the fire!"

"It's on fire!"

"..."

Huang Yongsheng was truly shrewd. Seeing that the alliance was failing and fearing that the other two would leak the information, he decided to go all out and set fire to the city.

Because he couldn't find a place to start a fire quietly, and also because he was afraid that the villagers or watchmen would discover it in advance and put it out, this ruthless man simply set his own mansion on fire.

After lighting the fire, he personally led several teams of men, running towards the city gate while shouting loudly.

"The rebels have breached the city! The rebels have breached the city!"

"Run!"

"..."

A few shouts, coupled with the raging fire that broke out in the city, caused considerable chaos, even though the fire was not very large and only occurred in one place.

As the chaos erupted, the Zhang and Li families, who had just returned home and hadn't even gone to sleep yet, were completely bewildered. They then cursed Huang Yongsheng for his lack of martial ethics, for launching such a direct attack.

There was no other way; things had come to this point, so we had no choice but to join in the arson.

Several large fires broke out, and Hanyang City finally descended into chaos.

Outside the city, the Han soldiers on night watch were also somewhat bewildered.

When Nie Yu was woken up from his sleep by his personal guards, he looked through binoculars at the towering flames and chaos in the city and began to question the meaning of life.

Before long, even the city gates were opened, and many Qing soldiers were running out in a panic.

Good heavens, this is an absurd claim about public opinion.

Nie Yu shook his head, not letting the opportunity slip by, and drew his sword, shouting: "Pass down the order, the entire army will attack the city!"

"The General has ordered: All troops to attack the city! All troops to attack the city!"

"Kill!"

(End of this chapter)