There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 351 Breaking Luzhou in One Day
Two days later, the main force of the Han army reached the city of Luzhou.

Upon receiving the news, Lu Quan, the prefect of Luzhou, hurriedly led all the officials of Luzhou Prefecture to the city wall to check the enemy's situation.

Then one could see the Han army outside the city, their banners with Chinese characters waving, looking quite imposing.

The Han army was not as formidable as a force of 100,000. After the division of forces, the main force of the Han army was reduced to only 6,000 men.

Of these, there were 4,000 regular soldiers and 2,000 civilian laborers.

Even so, Bai Nan believed that Luzhou Prefecture held a crucial strategic position, being located at the heart of the Huai River defense line, and thus left behind so many troops as a precaution.

Lu Quan suppressed his fear and said calmly, "The Han traitors are truly laughable. With only a few thousand men, they dare to arrogantly claim to have a hundred thousand. Since the Han traitors are so cowardly, we only need to hold the city and wait for reinforcements. When they arrive, the Han traitors' army will surely retreat without a fight!"

"Yes, yes, what you say is absolutely right, sir!"

Upon hearing this, the officials of Luzhou Prefecture all bowed and flattered him.

Ha, saying the Han army is feeling guilty, this guy really knows how to fool himself.

Despite having only a "mere" few thousand Han troops outside the city, they dared not come out to fight, instead hiding in the city and defending it to the death. Even the soldiers guarding the city dared not fire arrows at the Han cavalry that were coming up.

Who the hell is actually feeling guilty?
Before Lu Quan could continue to boost morale and, at the same time, console himself, the Han army outside the city had already launched an attack.

Bai Nan led his army to Luzhou City, but he didn't even set up camp, clearly intending to win quickly and not waste any time.

The problems of food and supplies can be solved after the city is captured.

"Boom boom boom!"

Without any foreplay, they immediately began bombarding the walls of Luzhou.

As a purely inland city, Luzhou Prefecture was not built on the banks of major rivers. Its strategic importance was only due to certain circumstances, and it was repeatedly contested by the Wei and Wu states during the Three Kingdoms period.

Therefore, the city wall of Luzhou Prefecture did not have enough defensive cannons. Red-coated cannons were a luxury, and there were only a few medium-sized cannons for simple city defense.

Moreover, the garrison on the city wall of Luzhou Prefecture had not been used for almost a hundred years. Apart from the three hundred or so Green Standard Army soldiers stationed there, plus the yamen runners from the prefectural and county governments, the rest were all servants and local militias from wealthy families.

Because of the tight schedule, the number of these household guards and local militia was not large, only a few thousand, which was roughly equal to the number of Han troops outside the city.

Moreover, the Han army was clearly stronger and had more combat experience. The Qing army was not so bad as to be said to be extremely weak, but rather its performance was in a complicated state.

Of the several thousand garrison troops, only three hundred or so Green Standard Army soldiers had some basic military knowledge; the local militia from wealthy households were all greenhorns who had only been on duty for a day.

As the Han army's cannons bombarded the area, Lu Quan's personal guards reacted swiftly and tackled him to the ground, accidentally hitting their heads on the ground and causing blood to gush out.

After Lu Quan finally managed to get up, he didn't have time to blame his personal guards for their carelessness. He immediately climbed up the city wall to check on the Han army's movements.

Bai Nan put down his binoculars and waved his hand: "Attack the city!"

"Dudududuwuwuwuwu~~~~"

As soon as the bugle sounded, thousands of civilians rushed up with sandbags to fill the moat.

Another moat bridge, which had been built long ago but not used in Shucheng County, was put out. This thing could be directly replaced by the moat bridge when it was pushed over the moat, and its thick wooden plank structure protected the soldiers from being hit by stray arrows from the defending side.

The Qing army defenders were terrified, and chaos reigned everywhere. No one even knew to fire a cannon in response, and the command system for the city wall defense was a complete mess.

"Boom boom boom!"

When the second round of cannon fire came, the defenders on the city wall finally couldn't hold out any longer.

After two rounds of artillery fire, three of the Han army's shells actually hit the city gate tower, and one of them only hit the city wall without hitting any section of the city wall. Nevertheless, it still broke the psychological defenses of the Luzhou defenders.

The main force of these garrison troops consisted of the household guards and militia of wealthy families. They were assigned by the government to help defend the city, and they had to pay for their own food and supplies.

It's normal to show up but not put in the effort; anyone who works hard is an idiot!
Now, the Han army immediately started bombarding them with cannons. After two rounds of bombardment, everyone was stunned, while their own cannons didn't even fire a single shot.

What's the point of fighting?
"The Han traitors are attacking! Run!"

"Run! It will be too late if you don't run now."

After a few shouts, the soldiers and local militia who had just been huddled under the parapet got up and tried to run away.

Lu Quan, looking terrified, realized what was happening and shouted, "No one is allowed to escape! Come back and kill the traitors! Kill the traitors!"

"Anyone who dares to run away will have their entire family punished!"

The shouting and cursing actually had some effect.

Li Mingyi, the leader of a wealthy local militia group who lived nearby, heard the shouting and curses and his eyes lit up. He drew his sword and shouted, "Men, the prefect of Luzhou is just ahead! Quickly follow me and let's capture this corrupt official and achieve a great feat!" He then added, "Anyone who follows me and achieves merit will have their indentures returned and receive a reward!"

The second sentence is the key point. Upon hearing that there would be silver to be earned and that the indentures would be returned, these village militiamen, who were originally servants of the Li family, immediately became excited.

"Kill them! Capture this corrupt official alive!"

A large group of Lijia soldiers shouted battle cries and followed their young master toward the city wall where Lu Quan was located.

Lu Quan did not have any personal guards by his side. The more than 300 Qing soldiers from Luzhou Camp were almost all directly controlled and placed in the nearby city walls by him.

This is why the Qing army collapsed so quickly after only two rounds of artillery fire from the Han army.

Lu Quan, fearing death, kept all the experienced regular soldiers by his side, leaving only inexperienced recruits who knew nothing.

How to defend the city depends entirely on their own efforts. If they can figure out how to defend their respective city walls, they are considered to have rich battlefield experience.

Three hundred Qing soldiers from Luzhou Camp, upon seeing the Li family's militia charging towards them, actually dutifully ran over to stop them.

Li Mingyi led the charge. Although he was the eldest son of the wealthy Li family in the city, he disliked studying since childhood and preferred martial arts. His ambition was to take the imperial examination for military officers and fight for a life-or-death career.

These days, only the sons of wealthy families can take the martial arts exam; otherwise, ordinary people wouldn't have the money to eat meat and practice martial arts.

By the way, Yang Fang's former mentor, the valiant general Yang Yuchun from Guangdong, was a martial arts graduate. Many of Yang Fang's fighting habits were actually instilled in him subtly by Yang Yuchun.

Yang Fang dared to charge a few cavalrymen against tens of thousands of enemy troops, and Yang Yuchun also dared to do the same, even leading only a small number of cavalrymen on long-distance raids to chase and fight tens of thousands of enemy troops.

It's a pity that such a capable general was sidelined and transferred to Guangdong by He Lin, thus missing the decisive battle against the Han army in Hunan.

Otherwise, Yang Yuchun would have to put some pressure on Nie Yu and the Han army to see how the fierce general Yang Fang came to be.

Meanwhile, the Qing soldiers of Luzhou, seeing that the prefect was in danger, hurriedly rushed up the city wall and horse path.

The commander of the Luzhou garrison stepped forward, drew his sword, and was about to kill Li Mingyi, this traitor.

He slashed, but missed.

Li Mingyi deftly dodged the cleaver, then seized the opportunity to strike back with his sword, hitting the cleaver squarely in the throat.

"Cough...cough..."

He clutched his bleeding throat, trying to speak, but his life was rapidly fading away, blood seeping into his throat, making coughing sounds.

Pfft!
A fully armored corpse lay on the horse path, and the Qing soldiers who followed behind were all stunned.

Their captain was killed in a single encounter, leaving the soldiers somewhat bewildered.

However, they soon stopped worrying, because Li Mingyi found the scholar's sword in his hand unusable, so he simply picked up the fine knife as well and snatched it at the Qing soldiers opposite him.

The robust physique he had developed through a long-term diet of meat and martial arts training made him far superior to the poorly trained and often underfed Green Standard Army Qing soldiers.

The Qing soldier who was robbed hurriedly raised his sword to defend himself, but the sword was nicked (it was an iron sword without steel reinforcement), and his hand was also hurt from the impact. He accidentally dropped the sword.

If your sword slips from your hand on the battlefield, you're doomed.

"Pfft!"

With his other hand, he thrust out his scholar's sword, piercing right through the Qing soldier.

After these two waves, the Qing soldiers who came to meet them no longer dared to fight and were instantly terrified and fled in panic.

The more aggressively you sprinted just now, the faster you'll run now.

Lu Quan, who was still wielding his sword and giving orders from the rear, saw that even his last Qing troops had collapsed.

This guy finally got scared and stopped worrying about defending the city. Taking advantage of the fact that Li Mingyi and the other "rebels" were blocked by the fleeing Qing troops from Luzhou, he turned around, threw down his sword, and ran away.

While fleeing, he didn't forget to take off his official robes. He was running so fast that he even lost one of his boots.

The prefect fled, and the remaining officials of Luzhou also scattered and fled.

No one cares about rank or status anymore; when disaster strikes, everyone just wants to flee!

No one dared to surrender. The Han Dynasty disliked corrupt officials, and those caught were usually put on public trial.

The previous magistrate of Shucheng County refused to vote because he felt he had been too greedy and that a public trial might result in him being torn apart by the angry people of Shucheng.

Of course, even though he refused to surrender, he still didn't survive. The wealthy families and clerks of Shucheng County joined forces to kill him as a pledge of allegiance to the city.

The magistrate of Lujiang County dared to surrender because he had only been in office for a few years and his corruption was not yet obvious, so he took a gamble to gain merit and avoid punishment.

Bai Nan did not punish him. This was not because Bai Nan acted on his own initiative, but because Nie Yu's policy towards pseudo-clean officials and gentry had been somewhat relaxed.

If someone is truly willing to surrender and perform meritorious service, they can be treated leniently as long as they don't go too far.

This was also to reduce resistance from the puppet Qing forces in the region, reduce casualties among the Han army, and also reduce casualties among the civilian population.

The battle at the city wall of Luzhou Prefecture ended quickly. Not only did several wealthy families, including Li Mingyi, defect to the enemy, but the escape of Luzhou Prefect Lu Quan also became the final straw that broke the camel's back in the defense of Luzhou.

When the Han army pushed the trench bridges and cloud chariots to attack the city, most of the city walls were already deserted, or were in the midst of fierce fighting.

The Han army's attack on the city secured the victory.

After a fierce siege, all the city gates and walls of Luzhou Prefecture were captured in just half a day.

Once the city walls are down, Luzhou Prefecture is like fish on a chopping board; taking it over completely will only take some time.

Upon hearing the news of the fall of Luzhou, Zhu Xiaochun, the Assistant Magistrate of Luzhou, said nothing and prepared to hang himself with a rope.

He had no choice but to commit suicide. He was too old, his family and children were not in Luzhou Prefecture, and he was a member of the Han Eight Banners. No one could spare him.

The only option is to die, so that the Emperor can leave a legacy of grace for his family and children.

Ha ha.

That's wishful thinking. Do you really think that death will solve everything?
Not to mention that his corpse should be displayed to the public, just the fact that this guy was a member of the Han Eight Banners means that his family, wife, and children are all in Jiangsu, specifically in Zhenjiang Prefecture, which happens to be the place that Nie Yu is personally leading the expedition to attack.

Nie Yu was already very merciful. Although he still killed any Manchu bannermen he saw, he spared the women and children of the Manchu bannermen.

These are all people; it would be such a waste to kill them. It would be much better to keep them to marry into the local population and send the children to orphanages to raise them as Han Chinese.

The following day, the entire city of Luzhou had been occupied.

The government offices, county offices, and treasury were all well preserved. Bloodstains, which had not been washed off, remained on the streets of the city. These were left by thugs and ruffians who had taken advantage of the chaos to rape and plunder the previous day.

Bai Nan was stationed at the Luzhou Prefecture government office, which served as his temporary command post. He directed the operations of the other three Han armies and discussed the next strategic plan.

There wasn't much to discuss. Luzhou Prefecture had already been captured, so the next step was to continue the offensive towards the Huai River.

That day, Bai Nan divided his troops again, leaving only 1,000 soldiers in Luzhou Prefecture. The remaining 3,000 troops and 2,000 laborers were dispersed to continue attacking Chaoxian (Chaohu), Hanshan, Hezhou, and Wuwei Prefecture along the southeast, forming a contiguous area with Chuzhou.

(End of this chapter)