There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 181 Where did the shouts of killing come from?

The second day of the siege of Hanchuan County.

During the day, the Qing army intensified the construction of siege equipment and tried to fill in the moat. The number of Qing soldiers' corpses piled up below the city had reached hundreds after a day of fierce fighting, and some of the corpses simply floated on the moat.

Despite the horrific casualties, the results were equally significant; several sections of the moat had been filled in compared to yesterday!
However, they also suffered over a hundred casualties in a single day, and these were not civilian laborers, but all regular soldiers. Even considering the Qing army's total strength of 20,000, these casualties seemed to be consumed too quickly.

Yes, it's because it's being used up too quickly.

This is a siege, not a decisive battle outside the city against the main force of the rebels. If this deadly fighting continues, the Qing army can only hold out for twenty days at most. After that, their morale will collapse and they will be unable to fight any longer.

Several Qing generals, including E Hui's deputy, couldn't help but advise, "Your Excellency, such an offensive will result in excessive casualties, and we fear it will be difficult to sustain a prolonged battle!"

"A protracted war?" E Hui sneered upon hearing this. "What I want is a quick victory. With such an offensive, although our casualties will be heavy, the rebels in the city will surely be terrified. A prolonged defense will inevitably lead to defeat. Hanchuan is merely the rebels' outpost, and they don't have many troops in the city. As long as we keep attacking fiercely, the rebels will surely collapse in morale within a few days and fall into chaos without a fight."

Having said that, fearing that the others might not understand his deeper meaning, he added, "Moreover, although our army is in high spirits in this battle, our supplies and provisions are insufficient. If we do not launch a swift attack and instead continue this siege for a long time, it will be us who cannot hold out. I intend to launch a quick attack to catch the rebels off guard and make it difficult for them to defend themselves in time!"

Having said all that, there's nothing more to say, whether you agree with E Hui's reckless playing style or not.

What can they do? They have no choice.
Even a skilled cook cannot cook without rice. The Qing army's deployment this time was hasty, in order to catch the rebels off guard and use strategic advantage to gain strategic deployment.

The troops needed to be dispatched quickly enough to catch up with the rebels who had already set out in the first half of the year, which meant their food supplies would definitely be insufficient. By the time they had finished harvesting their own crops, the rebels' territory would also be reaping a bumper harvest.

It must be admitted that the rebels' territory was indeed blessed with favorable weather and abundant harvests, and their Xiangyang, which was once known as a major city, had been severely damaged. Compared with the rebels, the more developed their food supply, the less likely they were to win, and the smaller their chances of victory became.

The third day of the siege.

"Dong dong dong dong!"

E Hui, the Governor-General of Huguang, simply took off his shirt, revealing his muscular upper body with a fleshy belly, and personally led the drumming to cheer on the troops attacking the city.

The governor personally beat the drum to cheer them on. Whether it was an intentional attempt to win hearts and minds or not, the soldiers were bound to be moved; they had no choice but to be!

The governor beats the drum for you, and you're not grateful? Why don't you rush up and give your life for the governor and for the Qing Dynasty?

"Damn it, the Qing dynasty has completely gone mad!?" Liu Zhiyu, a scholar-official county magistrate, rarely swore like a warrior.

Lin Hu, however, remained calm. He put down his binoculars and said, "It's not that the Qing regime has gone mad, but rather that the Qing governor has gone mad. It's only been three days, and he's already personally beating drums to cheer on the troops!"

Lin Hu did not recognize E Hui, but under the Qing army's main banner, a shirtless man of obviously unusual status was beating a drum continuously, surrounded by several Qing army generals, who were undoubtedly the puppet Qing governors-general of Huguang.

Before attacking the city, E Hui sent someone to persuade Hanchuan County to surrender, saying that he was the Governor-General of Huguang and that Hanchuan County should surrender immediately and that he could atone for his crimes.

Lin Hu immediately issued a military order: "Pass down the order that we must defend all sections of the city wall. We should not be stingy with the crossbows and grenades we brought. We should throw them when we see an opportunity and blow these Qing dogs to death."

On the third day of the siege, the Han army used grenades and crossbows to completely overwhelm the Qing army attacking the city.

The Hanchuan laborers defending the city were greatly encouraged and began to throw boulders and logs, killing and injuring many Qing soldiers who were climbing the city walls. Even the prepared molten gold was exhausted during the third day of the battle.

By afternoon, the Qing army had retreated to their camp in disarray. The casualties on the third day were double the total of the previous two days! (Note: "double" sounds better.)
E Hui wasn't angry. In his view, the Han army had even brought out such powerful firearms, which meant they had clearly exhausted their means of defending the city.

His casualties so far are less than a thousand, and he should be able to break through the city in a few days.

Once the city falls, the Han River waterway will be unobstructed, allowing him to sail down the river and reach Hanyang and Wuchang, thus encircling the rebels.

The siege is on its fourth day.

E Hui personally beat the drum to encourage the troops, but the Qing army's fighting strength was clearly not as good as the day before.

The siege lasted only half a day before the Qing army was driven back, leaving more than a hundred corpses on the city walls.

Day .

The Qing army collapsed at the first contact in less than half an hour of attacking the city!
After that, the Qing army launched three more waves of attacks, but none of them lasted more than half an hour. The shortest one lasted only half an hour before being easily repelled by the Han army.

The Qing army seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

"Yes, it'll be soon, very soon." E Hui fiddled with the telescope in his hand, his gaze fixed on the town of Hanchuan ahead.

into the night.

The timing tonight is perfect; it's the 30th of the lunar month, the darkest part of the moon.

The whole earth was pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Forget about night blindness; whether you have night blindness or not, you can't see anything in this darkness.

One hundred Manchu Eight Banners cavalrymen dismounted, led by an Eight Banners military commander. They all had chopsticks in their mouths and crouched down, slowly approaching the city wall of Hanchuan County.

E Hui also didn't sleep, and didn't even turn on the lights. Several Qing army generals stayed with him to keep him company all night, all keeping a close eye on Hanchuan County, where a few torches were still lit in the darkness.

"As soon as Che Deng and his men reach the city walls, we will immediately launch an attack..."

Before E Hui finished speaking, the town of Hanchuan suddenly burst into bright light, with torches lighting up several city towers.

No, I was discovered!
E Hui was completely bewildered. Not only was he bewildered, but Che Deng, who was leading a hundred dismounted cavalrymen on a night raid on the road, was also completely confused.

No, they hadn't even touched the city wall yet, how could they have been discovered so suddenly?
Keep in mind that they were all dressed in black, without even lighting torches, and each had chopsticks in their mouths, afraid of making the slightest sound.

They were still several dozen steps away from the city wall, so how could they have been discovered? Soon, they no longer needed to wonder, because the Han army directly fired a volley of crossbow bolts at Che Deng and his men from the darkness.

"Shhhhhhh!"

A distance of several dozen steps is exactly the effective range of a crossbow.

Arrows rained down, and regardless of their destructive power, they certainly terrified Che Deng and his men.

Now he was certain that he had indeed been discovered, and even the cat's location had been revealed.

Che Deng immediately got up, no longer pursuing any night raid, took out a prepared tinderbox, and lit a fire.

Seeing this, E Hui realized that a night raid was impossible, and immediately raised his hand to give the order: "Beat the drums! Attack the city!"

"Dong dong dong dong!"

The night was dark and the wind howled; the war drums beat.

The Qing soldiers had been given advance warning, knowing that a night attack was planned. The intensity of their daytime offensives had noticeably decreased, even crumbling at the first sign of trouble – all in preparation for tonight's assault.

The Qing army camp quickly lit up with a large number of torches. Under the torchlight, the Qing army camp was crowded with people, clearly indicating that a general offensive was about to be launched.

E Hui left no soldiers guarding the camp; the entire army was mobilized, and all siege equipment was brought out. He intended to capture Hanchuan County in one battle, and then sail down the river overnight to raid the Han army that was resting at night.

"kill!"

The Qing army's 3,000 Eight Banners cavalrymen dismounted and took the lead as the main force in the siege.

E Hui's military strategy was significantly different from Ming Liang's. Ming Liang was a veteran of the battlefield, and his military strategy was more conservative and steady. He preferred to keep his three thousand cavalry hidden as a last resort rather than use them to wear down his forces from the start.

E Hui is different; this guy is ruthless. For the first five days, he used ordinary Qing soldiers like laborers to expend their resources. Now he's using his precious Eight Banners cavalry as if they were ordinary Green Standard Army soldiers to fill the city.

If there are too many casualties, even if Hanchuan County is captured, the retired emperor will likely be executed.

"The Qing regime has gone mad, launching a full-scale night attack in the middle of the night!"

Liu Zhiyu was only wearing a single garment and carrying a scholar's sword; he was already terrified.

Compared to Lin Hu, he feared the fall of Hanchuan City even more. This was because he had killed the magistrate of Hanchuan County and used his head to surrender and join the rebels. While others could surrender, he, the mastermind, would surely be executed by slow slicing.

Liu Zhiyu disregarded any potential dangers and followed Lin Hu's steps: "Commander Lin, the Qing army is launching a night attack on the city! Quickly use that magical weapon to notify Commander Yang to send troops to the rescue!"

Lin Hu grinned and said, "Don't panic, Commander Yang is on his way. We just need to hold the county town for a moment, and the Qing army will be trapped!"

In the dead of night, the city of Hanchuan was pitch black, but outside the city, torches blazed like daytime.

When the Qing army did not move, it was a momentous operation. Three thousand dismounted cavalrymen, wearing cotton armor, climbed ladders to ascend the mountain.

Although Lin Hu had 500 Han soldiers under his command, how could 500 Han soldiers possibly stop 3,000 Qing troops? The able-bodied laborers were completely terrified and panicked by the Qing army's offensive.

The siege had barely begun when several sections of the city wall showed signs of falling, with Qing soldiers constantly scaling the walls.

"Form a small mandarin duck formation!"

Lin Hu quickly pulled Liu Zhiyu, the scholar-official magistrate, along with his personal guards to form a low-level version of the Mandarin Duck Formation, and began a positional battle on the city wall against the Qing army that had stormed the city.

On the other sections of the city wall where the pressure was high, the five hundred Han soldiers had been evenly divided into several small regiments. Each regiment formed a large and small mandarin duck formation and fought back and forth with the Qing army by relying on the coordination of the battle formations.

The idea of ​​500 Han soldiers forcibly defending against a siege by 20,000 Qing troops seems exaggerated and absurd.

But they managed to hold them off. This was due to the Han army's elite fighting force and strict discipline, as well as the fact that Hanchuan County was too small. The city walls could not even accommodate 2,000 Qing soldiers, let alone 20,000.

With forces evenly matched, the Han army could easily maintain a stalemate.

"Order all battalions to fill in the gaps immediately. Fill in any gaps in the city wall. Also, send several squads of soldiers to ram the city gates!"

E Hui quickly issued various military orders. Although the night raid was discovered halfway through, the attack on the city was already imminent; it was a matter of life or death.

"Shhhhhhh!"

The Han army's crossbowmen, standing atop a higher city wall, began firing arrows.

In an instant, screams of agony filled the air as the Qing soldiers attacked the city. The distance was simply too close, and the power of the crossbows was maximized. Even the cotton armor worn by the Eight Banner soldiers could not stop the crossbow bolts, which were comparable to bullets.

The night raid and defense battle had already entered a fierce stage from the very beginning.

"kill!"

A shout suddenly came from behind.

E Hui, who was directing the night assault, suddenly felt a sense of foreboding and realized that something was wrong.

The adjutant beside him instinctively asked, "Where did this shouting for battle come from?"

(End of this chapter)