The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

The shouts of battle from the city walls could be heard by the people inside the city, who craned their necks in fear and trepidation.

At this time, it was clearly stipulated that no one was allowed to approach the city gates and walls. If anyone was found doing so, they would be executed as bondservant servants of the Eight Banners. They could only watch and wait.

Seeing the men, trembling and carrying cold weapons, still charging up the city wall, the elderly women shed tears.

More than 5,000 people had already climbed the city wall; these were all farmers and peddlers who had never fought or trained.

Young women hid in the attic, cheering on the men who were joining the army. Some even embroidered on the spot, depicting these men looking frightened, yet they still climbed the city wall one by one.

While the people of the city were united in their efforts to overcome the crisis, thirty-eight people secretly gathered together in an alley about three hundred paces from Guangning Gate.

One of the skinny men, holding a pipe, pointed it in the direction of Guangning Gate, looking excited.

"Our masters are already attacking the city. The garrison at Guangning Gate is the smallest, and they're all on the city walls. There are only ten soldiers at the gate. If we break through, we'll definitely succeed!"

A fat man dressed as a monk, just like Maitreya Buddha, made a gesture of Buddhist compassion.

"That's exactly right. It's not in vain that we've been wandering around the city walls. Once our masters have stormed into Beijing, we can go back to being their servants!"

The rest of the people responded enthusiastically and began distributing weapons, mostly carrying poles, hoes, sickles, etc., but a strong pig butcher had a matchlock gun on his back.

Just as everyone was about to set off, a man dressed as a traditional Chinese medicine doctor with plasters on his face stopped in his tracks.

"Gentlemen, Xiao Jingzi from Xizhimen deliberately exposed himself to help our masters enter the city, only to be killed on the spot. Don't our masters remember us?"

"Life is pretty good now!"

The doctor's words undoubtedly crossed everyone's line, and the butcher with the gun even held the butcher's knife to the doctor's neck.

"Forget about how good our masters were. Without their masters, we'd be lowly people for life."

"Anyone who dares to be ungrateful today, I'll kill him!"

Although the pig butcher was reckless, he spoke very honestly, and everyone nodded in agreement.

As a bondservant of the Eight Banners, if you have some education, you can become an official. If all else fails, just wander around with the Eight Banners and you'll still have plenty of money to eat. You don't need to work to earn any money!

"I'll count to three. If anyone doesn't rush in, we'll all report them after we're caught. We won't let the traitor feel it!"

After the butcher finished speaking, seeing that no one had any objections, he picked up the butcher knife with one hand and began pressing his fingers with the other.

"One, two, three, charge!"

The butcher shouted and charged out first, wielding his matchlock gun. The others followed suit without hesitation.

Once you join the Imperial City Guard, you'll be mining until you die.

This has become a common saying among Beijingers.

Xiao Qi, who was guarding the jack-up winch, saw people rushing over, all of them carrying weapons, and immediately drew his waist knife and assumed a defensive posture.

"Who are you people?"

"Don't you see a battle going on? Get out of here quickly!"

The junior officer naturally noticed that these people were different. He wasn't saying this out of fear of death, but because he was worried that there were too few of them. In addition, the outer city gate didn't have a heavy gate, so once the city gate was opened, the Eight Banners Tartars would rush into the city, and the ordinary people would suffer.

The butcher ignored everything, lit the fire rope, and rushed forward, seemingly without even using it.

"Six, quickly send a message to the centurion."

"The rest of you, follow me!"

Seeing this, the junior officer no longer hesitated. After giving an order, he raised his saber and charged forward, shouting.

There was a bang.

The junior officer was shot in the chest with a shotgun and died instantly.

Upon seeing this, the other eight Han soldiers instinctively paused for a moment. As a result, another Han soldier had his throat slit by the butcher who had switched knives. The butcher's technique was quite skillful.

However, once these Han soldiers regained their senses and were temporarily fitted with Mongolian leather armor, they proved to be quite formidable in a real fight.

Although they were all eventually killed, only fourteen of the thirty-eight bondservant servants remained, and all of them were wounded.

The butcher, who also had a cut in his chest, patted his matchlock gun, his face pale.

"If it weren't for our master rewarding this guy back then, we'd all be dead here today!"

"Quickly, open the city gates."

Guangning Gate did not have a heavy gate with a sturdy bolt; it only had a thick city gate with a solid wooden bolt at the back. With the combined efforts of everyone, the bolt was slowly lifted.

This thing is extremely heavy. Even if the Han army kills a few more people, they probably still won't be able to open the city gate.

With a series of clicking sounds, the Guangning Gate was slowly opened. The Eight Banners soldiers outside the city, who were preparing to risk their lives to climb the ladder, were completely dumbfounded. What was going on?

However, this is ultimately a good thing. The Han army is too busy defending the city to risk leaving it.

When the Eight Banners soldiers were allowed to enter Guangning Gate, they saw the butcher and others kneeling on the ground, calling out "Master, Master!" They immediately knew what was going on.

He originally intended to kill these people and claim all the credit for this, but he couldn't do it in front of everyone, so he directly stormed into the city and headed towards Zhengyang Gate, knowing the terrain like the back of his hand.

Unaware of the situation outside the city, Emperor Kangxi was extremely anxious, as he saw that the Han army on the city wall had grown from a few dozen men to five or six hundred.

Tong Guowei's idea of ​​a swift attack is no longer feasible. In fact, if the attack is delayed until tomorrow, the able-bodied men will become more skilled and unable to breach Beijing.

Why would these Beijingers rather help that Mongol Tartar Galdan than help our Great Qing?

This is absolutely outrageous!

Just as Kangxi was about to order the withdrawal of troops and lead them to the grasslands, the guards beside him showed a look of surprise.

"Your Majesty, look! The Guangning Gate has been opened!"

"Our men stormed in!"

Emperor Kangxi was near Guangning Gate at the time. Upon hearing this, he immediately looked over excitedly and saw the Eight Banners soldiers entering the city. Their faces were contorted, and it was impossible to tell whether they were crying or laughing.

"Hurry, hurry!"

"Immediately issue an order to Tong Guowei to lead his troops into the city and break through Zhengyang Gate. I must enter the palace!"

The guards dared not delay and immediately rode to Chaoyang Gate to find Tong Guowei and deliver the imperial decree.

When Tong Guowei learned that Guangning Gate had been breached, he was devastated, because Chaoyang Gate was about to fall, and he had already lost nearly 500 warriors.

However, completing Kangxi's mission was more important, so he immediately led the remaining troops to Guangning Gate.

At this moment, on the city wall of Chaoyang Gate, Pan Feng had seven or eight arrows stuck in his body. They were all thin-shafted armor-piercing arrows, and the bloodstains on his old armor were clearly embedded in his flesh.

Seeing that the Eight Banners had stopped attacking the city, Pan Feng was about to ask a question when a messenger rode up on horseback.

"Reporting to the Commander, Guangning Gate has been breached!"

"Two thousand Manchu soldiers have already stormed into the outer city!"