There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 317 Lots of Talents
"Shhhhhh!"

The Qing army fired sparse arrows, none of which hit any of the Han cavalry.

Chen Anbang's scalp tingled at the sight. How could he not understand that his Qing soldiers had begun to believe the lies of the Han traitors, which was why they were deliberately shirking their duties?

There's no way to punish them, because the city's garrison only numbers around three thousand. If either side were punished, morale would inevitably be thrown into chaos.

Wang Bing could only pull Chen Anbang aside and say, "The morale of the army has wavered. The only way to continue defending the city is to pay wages and give money to appease the army."

When in doubt, pay wages first.

Paying salaries might not solve some problems, but it can certainly solve 90% of the army's problems.

After Wang Bing and Chen Anbang made their decision, they immediately went to find Zhang Zengxu.

They had fled from the battlefield, leaving all their money and provisions behind in Jiujiang. They had no choice but to let Prefect Zhang Zengxu foot the bill. After all, they were helping the enemy defend the city, so it was only right for him to pay.

Zhang Zengxu was a capable "advisor." He was greedy, but he knew that money was useless if it wasn't spent to create value.

After receiving the silver, the two men first set aside their own share, and then immediately distributed the wages to the soldiers.

Once the pay was distributed, the effect was immediate, and the soldiers quickly settled down.

Wang Bing and Chen Anbang breathed a sigh of relief, just as they were about to uniformly replace all the soldiers on the southern city wall.

Suddenly, another group of soldiers rushed into the Han army camp outside the city.

Chen Anbang reacted instinctively, drawing his bow and firing an arrow at the Han soldiers near the moat.

"call out!"

As expected, the arrow missed its mark.

Chen Anbang saw that the Han army had brought over a cart with an old man in official robes on it, the style of which was quite eye-catching.

Wang Bing took out his binoculars and looked into the distance. He immediately cursed angrily, "You scoundrel, how dare you!"

"What's wrong?" Chen Anbang's heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly asked.

Before Wang Bing could answer, the Han soldiers below had already pulled out megaphones and started shouting wildly.

"The Governor of Anhui, Zhu Gui, is here!"

“Anqing City has fallen. If we surrender now, only the ringleaders will be executed, and the officers and soldiers will be spared.”

"The Governor of Anhui, Zhu Gui, is here!"

"Anqing City has fallen..."

"..."

There's not much fluff, it's simple and clear.

The pay that the Qing army had just received was already useless before it even had a chance to be used.

The Han army simply brought Zhu Gui over on a cart. Wang Bing had no doubt about whether this Zhu Gui was real or fake. Because regardless of whether he was real or fake, the Han army had already brought him over, and the Qing soldiers guarding the city wall would certainly be more willing to believe that this was the real governor.

With the governor arrested, Anqing is naturally gone too, and Chizhou is probably doomed!

"Even the governor has been captured by the rebel army. Is Anqing really gone?"

"Are the military commander and the general lying to us?"

"Then how can we fight?"

The Qing soldiers who were a little further away from the city gate had even begun to openly discuss it.

Wang Bing looked at the soldiers who were beginning to stir, and he was completely at a loss as to what to do.

The Han traitors brought the governor here, and they couldn't fight him; leaving the city meant handing him over.

The two could only stare at each other, watching the donkey cart across the moat the whole time, as Zhu Gui was escorted around the city wall shouting messages.

Fortunately, the number of local militia and laborers they recruited was not large; the city walls were almost entirely composed of real Qing soldiers. Otherwise, after this round of persuasion and calls for surrender, the southern city wall would probably have collapsed first, and the Han rebels would have been able to save their strength for an attack.

The Han army continued to shout and persuade the Qing troops on the city wall to surrender for half an hour, and the morale of the Qing troops on the city wall had completely collapsed.

Wang Bing and Chen Anbang had long since retreated from the city wall with their personal guards. Instead of going to the prefectural government office, they returned to their military camp in the city.

In the military camp's stables, they kept their few warhorses.

Wang Bing said, "Chizhou is probably beyond our defense. We must leave tonight, otherwise, if it gets too late and the Han rebels attack the city, we won't be able to escape."

Chen Anbang frowned and asked, "What about Governor Zhu..."

Wang Bing said, "Governor Zhu is His Majesty's teacher. Unless the Han traitors are stupid, they won't do anything to Governor Zhu. He's a good bargaining chip to use in negotiations with the court. Instead of worrying about Governor Zhu, let's think about where we're going next."

"Ningguo Prefecture?" Chen Anbang asked tentatively.

Wang Bing thought for a moment and said, "Ningguo or Huizhou are both fine. The Han traitors have captured Chizhou, and they will definitely continue to move their troops. I think we can go to Huizhou Prefecture first. Huizhou has a complex terrain with mountains blocking the way, which can at least delay things for a while. Ningguo Prefecture, on the other hand, is flat and has no natural defenses. Even if we lose Huizhou, we can still retreat to Zhejiang. Before we leave, we can also plunder some silver from the Huizhou merchants to buy our lives at the imperial court!"

The wealth of Huizhou merchants was well-known throughout Jiangnan.

Wang Bing's retreat to Huizhou was a ruse; his real intention was to make a quick buck from the Huizhou merchants before fleeing. If he was lucky, he might even have a considerable amount left over after making enough to buy his own life.

Losing a battle is not a matter of life and death; what is a matter of life and death is losing a battle and not having the money to buy your life as atonement.

Zhang Zengxu, the prefect of Chizhou, was currently busy raising funds and supplies. Unbeknownst to him, the two Qing army commanders helping him defend the city were already discussing the details of their escape that night. Wang Bing had considered everything carefully; the fewer people who knew about their escape, the better.

Therefore, he specifically sent his most trusted personal guards to deliver the order, instructing Zhang Zengxu to gather as many laborers and local militia as possible, prepare oil and rolling stones, and put on a show of being prepared to confront the Han army for a long time and defend the city.

Zhang Zengxu firmly believed this; he didn't think Wang Bing and Chen Anbang would run away. Since these two were already guilty, they would definitely try to atone for their crimes; running away would only worsen their punishment (but at least save their lives...).

That evening, Zhang Zengxu, who had been busy all day, had already gone to bed.

The Han army camp outside the city, the Qing army garrison on the city wall, Wang Bing and Chen Anbang each gathered more than two hundred personal guards, and there were also members of the Liu clan from Guichi in Chizhou City, none of them rested.

"Do it!"

It's unclear who shouted it first, but within minutes, a raging fire broke out in Chizhou City.

People were shouting along the streets: "The city has fallen! The rebels have entered the city! Everyone run!"

Such a commotion was quickly noticed by the Qing troops on the city wall, as well as Wang Bing and Chen Anbang in the military camp inside the city.

"go!"

Wang Bing immediately mounted his horse and shouted to those behind him.

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

"Ta-ta-ta-ta!"

More than two hundred cavalrymen charged out of the camp in the dead of night, without even lighting torches, and headed straight for Tongyuan Gate in the southeast.

On the south city wall of Chizhou, a Qing army captain from the Chizhou garrison cut off his queue (braid) and then shouted while holding the severed braid, "My men, open the city gates and welcome the royal army!"

"kill!"

More than 400 Qing soldiers from Chizhou suddenly defected, catching their allies off guard.

To be precise, these soldiers from Chizhou didn't consider the soldiers from Jiangsu as friendly forces.

More than 3,000 Qing troops were gathered at the south city wall, of which more than 400 were soldiers from Chizhou, and the remaining 2,000 were...
The Jiangsu soldiers brought by Wang Bing and Chen Anbang were their personal guards, and their combat strength was stronger than that of ordinary Green Standard Army soldiers.

Unfortunately, their commander has now abandoned them and fled. Without his command and control, the more than two thousand Jiangsu soldiers were driven to the brink of collapse by the more than four hundred Chizhou soldiers.

Nobody was thinking about fighting to the death. They couldn't even find their commander, so who were they going to fight for?

Outside Chizhou City, Bai Nan had already made an appointment with the Liu family to create chaos in the city that very night, and then seize the city from within and without, catching the Qing army off guard.

Now, the Qing army is indeed in chaos, but it's too chaotic, and the chaos is happening too fast.

Bai Nan, holding the binoculars, asked with considerable surprise, "What exactly did your Liu family do to cause such a commotion?"

Liu Jiye was also bewildered. In his mind, the Liu clan members in the city, at most, would do the same as him: first set fires everywhere to create chaos, and then indirectly affect the outer city defenses, causing temporary gaps in the Qing army's defense line.

The Han army will take advantage of this opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the breach and capture the city in one fell swoop!
then……

Chizhou descended into chaos far too quickly. Even he could vaguely see the turmoil on the city walls, with torches flickering everywhere and braziers and torches being thrown down the walls from time to time, seemingly carrying many people with them.

"Fine, since Chizhou is already in chaos, let's take advantage of the confusion to attack the city!"

Bai Nan nodded slightly and raised his hand to issue the order to attack the city.

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

As the bugle sounded, the Han army launched one massive siege trench bridge after another.

The siege bridge was even larger than the cloud chariot, but not too high. Its advantage was that it was sturdy and stable enough, and it could also be used as a pontoon bridge to cross the moat.

Han soldiers could easily climb the steps of the trench bridge to attack the city.

Even when bombarded by the red-coated cannons, the Han soldiers could take cover under the trench bridge and use the thick wooden planks as cover to defend against the bombardment.

After crossing the moat, the Han soldiers below immediately stepped onto the wooden steps, raised their rifles, and charged towards the city wall.

Once they reached a certain altitude, the Han army riflemen aimed and fired directly.

"Bang bang bang!"

There are no three-stage firing sequences; it's all free-fire.

The Qing soldiers who came to meet them fell to the ground in droves.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding Qing soldiers immediately turned and fled.

More Qing soldiers came up from another section of the city wall, shouting as they ran: "Long live the Han Dynasty! Long live the King of Han!"

These Qing soldiers learned very quickly; the Han soldiers who were about to fire stopped in time when they heard the shout.

These Qing soldiers who had defected, along with the Han soldiers who had scaled the city walls, ran all the way to open the city gates.

Before long, the Xiushan Gate of the South City Wall of Chizhou was wide open.

Bai Nan spotted the torches lighting up at the city gate through his binoculars, then drew his sword and ordered, "All troops, charge!"

"Kill!"

Thousands of Han soldiers launched a fierce attack, and the Qing troops in Chizhou either defected and surrendered or were completely terrified.

(End of this chapter)