There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 268 The Failed Night Raid

"Fire arrows!"

Seeing that the gunners had collapsed again, Liu Ding had no choice but to order the archers to fire arrows.

"Shhhhhh!"

The arrows rained down, all embedding themselves in the door panels raised by the Han army.

Compared to the first day of the siege, these militiamen had clearly figured out the tactics of the Qing archers.

"Shhhhhh!"

The rain of arrows continued to fall, though their accuracy had improved considerably compared to the beginning.

However, the Han army militia carried even more door panels, leaving almost no openings, so the arrows couldn't penetrate them at all.

Unless we use arquebuses, but those are long gone; they were all given away in the previous battle. Linjiang Prefecture has no arquebuses left. If there are any in stock, they are ancient relics and definitely unusable.

The militiamen, holding up the door panels, worked tirelessly, section by section, to fill in the moat.

After this group of militiamen finished their work and left, the next group came in to take their place.

The Han army not only had its own militia, but also recruited laborers from the surrounding villages. Since filling in the moat was not dangerous, and the garrison along the river was too disorganized, it was better to use more laborers to speed up the filling process.

After lunch and a short rest, we continued filling the river in the afternoon.

Liu Ding forcibly drove the gunners up to fire cannons to block the Han army and civilians.

"boom!"

As soon as the cannons fired, they were immediately targeted by the Han army's artillery.

"Boom boom boom!"

Although the Qing army's artillery had the advantage of city defense and terrain, allowing them to have a commanding position, their artillery was too outdated, with a caliber and range inferior to that of the Han army.

Even in terms of artillery experience, the Qing army artillerymen were all new recruits who had only been using the equipment for two days, while the Han army artillerymen were all veterans who had conquered cities and territories.

Veteran soldiers against new recruits, heavy cannons against medium-sized antique artillery—the results were immediate and decisive. The Qing army's slight advantage in terrain was practically nonexistent.

"Oh!"

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard.

One of the Qing army's cannons exploded.

The cannon exploded not because it was old and in disrepair, but because some of the cannons were left uncleaned when the Qing army gunners fled in haste that morning. In addition, due to their fear and tension, they filled the cannons with too much gunpowder.

The gunpowder in the cannon barrel was accidentally detonated prematurely, causing a barrel explosion.

Liu Ding scolded, "Don't load so much gunpowder! Clean the entire cannon barrel!"

The Qing army was exhausted from defending the city!
The Han army used regular troops to attack the city. Even the civilian laborers were trained and could fully understand military orders and bugle calls, and could command them as if they were their own arms.

However, all the soldiers guarding the town under Liu Ding's command were new recruits, and only about half of them could barely understand the orders.

Even how to defend the city had to be taught by Liu Ding step by step; without his instruction, they would have no idea how to defend the city.

After a day of defending the city, Liu Ding was exhausted, but the Han soldiers and laborers did not slow down their efforts to fill the moat outside the city.

On the contrary, after getting used to the first day, the militiamen filled the river even faster.

Liu Ding frowned, already sensing something was wrong. The morale of the Han traitors' laborers seemed too high, almost as high as that of the army. This was not the quality that ordinary laborers should have.

He didn't tell anyone about it because he knew it could undermine morale, and he also had his own selfish motives.

What if the situation turns unfavorable...

Day three of the siege.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Boom boom boom!"

As usual, the two armies exchanged fire with their cannons.

The Qing army artillerymen had gained some experience and knew that cannons could not be loaded with too much gunpowder and that the breech must be cleaned. Their firing techniques were also becoming more and more skillful.

However, no matter how skilled they were, they had only been handling artillery for a couple of days, and they certainly couldn't compare to the battle-hardened artillerymen of the Han army.

This time, they held out for a full half hour before the Qing army artillerymen finally collapsed and fled.

The Han army militia immediately shouldered sandbags and charged!
Liu Ding risked craning his neck to look and finally discovered a detail he hadn't noticed before: several Han traitors dressed in military officer uniforms were leading the way carrying sandbags in front of the Han traitor laborers.

Are these Han traitor officers out of their minds?

Liu Ding ordered the arrows to be fired, and a rain of arrows fell. A Han traitor officer carrying a sandbag was unlucky; he was hit in the shoulder by a stray arrow, and the sandbag he was carrying couldn't even support him, falling to the ground.

The Han Chinese laborers who were carrying the door panels seemed to have encountered a major incident. They rushed forward and put the door panels on the officer, while several other laborers hurriedly dragged the officer away.

Liu Ding's eyes lit up. He felt as if he had discovered the secret to why the morale of the Han traitors and laborers was so high.

Outside the city, the Han army camp.

Chen Younian, his face ashen, cursed and said, "Mr. Xu, are you a tiger or something? The militiamen are rushing forward to fill the river, why are you carrying sandbags and rushing up there? And you're in the first row, are you just looking to harm us? If any of you teachers die under my command, the King will probably give us a good scolding."

Xu Fu, the instructor who had just been rescued by the militiamen, lowered his head and remained silent upon hearing this. It wasn't that he was speechless from being scolded, but rather that he had a wooden stick in his mouth while the military doctor next to him was disinfecting his wounds and removing the arrow.

With a muffled groan, the arrow was pulled out, and the army doctor quickly bandaged his arm with garlic extract and a sanitary napkin that had been boiled in hot water.

Xu Fu then spat out the wooden stick and said weakly, "General Chen is right. This time it was indeed my carelessness. I rushed too fast and ran out of the protection range of the door panel, which is why I was hit by the stray arrow. It also made the militia brothers work hard to save me."

Chen Younian, though he looked rugged, wasn't actually a boorish warrior. He instantly understood the implication: "No, Mr. Xu, are you still planning to charge? Didn't the King give the order? Please, let us go, don't do this!"

Xu Fu felt somewhat apologetic upon hearing this, but still firmly stated, "As a military civil instructor, I have an obligation to set an example. If we let the militia rush forward, what is the point of us civil instructors, and how can we educate the soldiers and civilians?"

After saying that, he changed the subject again: "As for the king's order, the king only said that the civil instructors can no longer lead the charge, but he did not say that we civil instructors cannot charge together."

Good heavens, this is such sophistry, it left Chen Younian speechless.

He really wanted to assign a few soldiers to keep all these instructors under his control and prevent them from running around, but the problem was that he didn't have that much authority!
The civil instructors are the soul of the Han army. This was said by the King of Han himself when he reformed the military system and established the civil instructors, which also represents the extraordinary status of the civil instructors in the Han army.

While instructors have no right to interfere with the command of the general in commanding operations, the general cannot restrict the freedom of instructors. Any general who dares to imprison or detain an instructor will be considered a traitor.

Even if the civil instructor unfortunately died in battle, the military general had to submit a memorial to the King of Han to explain how the civil instructor, who was in the rear of the army, could have died before the main army was still there.

It can be said that the only thing Chen Younian can do right now is argue with the instructors, which is at most a matter of bad relationship and verbal conflict.

Chen Younian said helplessly, "Mr. Xu, you can follow the laborers, but you must hide under the door and not rush to the front. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to report this to the King by telegram."

The third day of the siege passed quickly, and Liu Ding remained silent as he looked at the moat outside, which had been mostly filled in.

Zhang Chengji did not interfere with Liu Ding's command and was doing his best to allocate money and food for Liu Ding. However, this guy would send people up from time to time to ask how the defense of the city was going.
Liu Ding's expression flickered, and he replied deceitfully, "Inform the commander that the Han rebels' morale is waning. Tonight, I will mobilize elite troops to launch a night raid on the Han rebels' camp. I don't intend to defeat them, but I will make them feel like they have thorns in their backs and can't sleep peacefully!"

Liu Ding was indeed a man of action. That very night, he personally selected an elite force, consisting entirely of local archers who had dared to defend the city and fire arrows during the past three days. He also chose three hundred strong men to form a night raiding force.

In the latter half of the night, it was so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Liu Ding led three hundred local militiamen in a night raid, all gagged and holding ropes, slowly approaching the Han army camp.

A night raid by three hundred men was destined to be fruitless.

Liu Ding did this precisely because he wanted to keep the Han army from having any peace, and at the same time, he wanted to achieve a small but significant victory to boost morale and help them hold out for a longer period of time.

After three days of fighting to defend the city, Liu Ding's confidence had been completely shattered.

If we don't make a big fuss soon, Linjiang Prefecture will be captured by the Han army sooner or later.

Liu Ding led the night raid battalion, but they had only just reached the outer perimeter of the Han army camp, no more than a hundred meters away.

"Dang Dang Dang!"

"The Qing dynasty is coming to kill us! The Qing dynasty is coming to kill us!"

No, I was discovered!
Liu Ding reacted quickly, immediately getting up, spitting out the wooden stick from his mouth, and shouting, "Retreat! Retreat!"

Liu Ding had no idea how he had been exposed, and could only hastily order the entire army to retreat. However, this was a night raid outside the city, and while it was easy to leave, it would be difficult to retreat.

When the local militia of the Qing army's night raid camp heard Liu Ding's military order, they thought there was a Han army ambush ahead and were so frightened that they were scared out of their wits.

Before Liu Ding could stop them, the group of villagers scattered and fled.

The night was already dark, and the Qing army, in order to ensure the success of their night raid, had not lit any torches and were advancing entirely by groping in the dark.

Now that they're running, morale is in complete disarray!
Liu Ding had no time to spare. He could only hastily gather the soldiers around him, barely determine the direction, and then take advantage of the chaos to escape back to Linjiang Prefecture.

Although the Han army promptly dispatched troops to pursue, the Qing army's chaotic retreat inadvertently provided cover for Liu Ding's successful escape.

When Liu Ding escaped back to the city, he felt no joy whatsoever.

He escaped back, but almost all of the three hundred night raiders who went out of the city were wiped out outside.

Of the more than 300 people who left the city, less than one in ten returned!

This time, his plan backfired, and Liu Ding's scheme completely fell apart. He also realized that even at night, the Han traitors could see them.

There's no need to fight this battle anymore, because it's completely impossible to fight.

(End of this chapter)