Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 376 Attack on Jining

The dense trenches outside the city could not be filled in a short time, but at the cost of more than a thousand auxiliary soldiers, a flat road leading directly to the city was built.

One by one, the logs were transported to the side of the moat, and then, under the cover of the shield soldiers, the auxiliary soldiers tied the logs together with thick ropes, combining them into two sections at one end to form a simple floating bridge. Then the Zhou army infantry pushed the cowhide tents and headed towards Jining City.

From time to time, soldiers were hit by arrows or cannonballs and fell to the ground dead, but no one stopped.

Zhao Yongping observed the situation on the battlefield. Under the cover of cowhide tents, the Zhou army gathered at the base of the wall in large numbers. When the soldiers climbing the ladders were killed, the Zhou army in the tents continued to attack, and the siege was like a spring, continuous and uninterrupted.

The Zhou army's 62 cannons were displayed at the foot of the city, and the shelling stopped after the Zhou army's infantry began to arrive at the foot of the city. The cannons could indeed knock down the city walls, but it would take a long time.

Zhao Yongping launched the attack on the city. On the one hand, he wanted to test the combat effectiveness of the Qing army in the city. On the other hand, Zhao Yongping was angry because the envoy was killed, so he decided to attack the city immediately.

On the Jining city wall, Lai Nao looked at the leather tents below the city and was extremely angry. These tents could not be broken through without huge rocks, but it was extremely inconvenient to transport the huge rocks up. The arrows shot through them would have no effect and could not threaten the Zhou army below at all.

At this time, Linqing General Yi Yonggui said, "Master Zhang Jing, I have a plan!"

"Say it"

"You can sprinkle tung oil on it and then set it on fire. This will definitely burn all the cowhide."

Lai Nao was overjoyed and immediately ordered his men to search for tung oil in the city. Soon several barrels of tung oil were transported to the city wall and then sprinkled on the city wall. They also set fire to the city wall, and the tent was immediately engulfed in flames.

The Zhou army soldiers in the tent cried out in surprise, and someone shouted, "The Qing army has set fire, quickly raise your shields!"

The military garrison attacking the city at this time was Yingyang Garrison under Hao Yongzhong's army. Hao Yongzhong saw the leather tents being burned and the soldiers gathered under the wall being hit by arrows and stones from the city wall, and they were dodging in a panic.

Hao Yongzhong could no longer hold back and shouted, "Guards, put on your armor and follow me!"

Hao Yongzhong held a knife in one hand and a shield in the other. Seeing this, the guards around him rubbed their hands in readiness, showing no fear at all.

"Go ahead, let the archers provide cover!" Hao Yongzhong gave an order, and two hundred guards immediately formed a dense formation, surrounded Hao Yongzhong, and quickly approached the city wall.

Seeing this, the morale of the Zhou army soldiers at the base of the wall was boosted. They raised their shields and formed a defensive wall to resist the attacks pouring down from the top of the city.

Liu Tichun looked from afar and saw Hao Yongzhong personally going into battle. He shook his head and said, "What's the point of Hao Yaoqi going up so quickly!"

When approaching the ladder, Hao Yongzhong suddenly jumped up. With his agile body, he climbed up like a nimble monkey.

On the city wall, the Qing soldiers were horrified and shot arrows and threw stones at him, but they were all blocked by Hao Yongzhong's shield. Just as Hao Yongzhong was about to rush to the top of the city wall with all his might, four Qing soldiers guarding the city carried a log and rolled down the ladder.

When Hao Yongzhong looked up, cold sweat broke out on the soles of his feet, but in a flash, Hao Yongzhong lay down on the ladder, raised his shield with his arms, his wrists close to his head, and the shield tilted downward.

In an instant, Hao Yongzhong suddenly felt a huge force coming, followed by a scream from below. A smug smile appeared on Hao Yongzhong's face, but just when he relaxed his vigilance, an arrow shot Hao Yongzhong's shoulder blade from diagonally above. Hao Yongzhong groaned in pain. At this time, a stone was thrown down from above and hit the shield, causing Hao Yongzhong's arm to hurt and making him grimace.

The guards below were horrified and hurriedly pulled Hao Yongzhong down. Seeing that he was injured before he even reached the city, Hao Yongzhong also hurried down the ladder and retreated under the cover of his guards.

The general was injured and the morale of the front line immediately dropped. Seeing this, Gao Jinku advised Zhao Yongping: "Marshal, should we retreat? We don't have enough equipment and it will be difficult to break the city!"

Zhao Yongping pondered for a moment, shook his head and said, "It's not right to have such an anticlimactic first battle. Send an order to order Yingyang Town to withdraw and Wuwei Town to take over."

Gao Jinku was stunned for a moment, but quickly reacted. He bowed to Zhao Yongping and said, "Yes, Marshal." Then he immediately turned around and prepared to attack the city.

After Yingyang Town retreated, Wuwei Town under Gao Jinku's command immediately took the lead. The leather tent was destroyed, and Gao Jinku could only order more people to push the shield carts.

The sound of cannons rumbled on the battlefield, and the fighting lasted until the afternoon. Jining City stood still. At this time, Bai Yongfu walked closer and said to Zhao Yongping: "General Zhao, the moat is more than ten feet wide. I'm afraid it will take a long time to attack it. It's better to use cannons to bombard the city."

Zhao Yongping frowned. Attacking a city has always been the most difficult part of a war between two armies. It is not uncommon in history books for a city to be defended for a year or two. Zhao Yongping wanted to test the attack to see the combat effectiveness of the Qing army. It seemed that under the defense of this city, no matter how weak the Qing army was, it would not be easy to take it down.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yongping was about to issue an order to call back the troops, when Bai Yongfu suddenly remembered something and said to Zhao Yongping, "General Zhao, when the king attacked Nanjing in the past, he used gunpowder and stored it under the city. He also blew up the city gate. Why not give it a try!"

Zhao Yongping was moved when he heard this, but he still hesitated and said, "In the past, the king used gunpowder to blow up the city, but he never blew down the city wall. But I'm afraid the city gate can be easily blocked by it?"

Bai Yongfu thought for a moment after hearing this, and then said, "Your Majesty has said before that if the gunpowder is compacted more, the quantity is increased, and it is buried deeper, it may cause the city wall to collapse. Besides, the wall of Jining is not thicker than that of Nanjing. If it collapses, it will be much easier to attack the city in the future!"

"Then give it a try. Pass the order to retreat."

…………

To the east of Sizhou City, the Qing cavalry galloped eastward.

This cavalry was Hauge's troop. Long before Zhao Yongping sent out his troops, Hauge had already received an order from Dorgon to contain Zhou's army and defend Xuzhou. Hauge ignored this order.

When Hauge moved his troops from Sichuan to Huguang, his army still had 50,000 men. As a result, Duoduo drew away 20,000 Han army flags and Green Camp soldiers, leaving 30,000 men. In addition, they lost more than 3,000 men when they besieged Wang Fugui's Xianning camp. A bigger blow was suffered in the city of Wuchang, where the Mongolian cavalry Gulbuha and Xu Fan's Green Camp soldiers all surrendered.

As a result, Hauge now had only 15,000 Eight Banners soldiers under his command. Hauge repeatedly wrote to the court, requesting to return to Beijing for rest, but was rejected by Dorgon every time.

However, after receiving Dorgon's order, although Hauge did not intend to go to Xuzhou to confront Zhou's army head-on, he had the little capital in his hands. If he went to Xuzhou, even if he was only cavalry, he would not be easily surrounded.

But Zhao Yongping had so many troops, and the logistics still relied on the navy. Hauge felt that he could not gain anything good in Xuzhou, so he might as well try to seize Huai'an after Zhou's army's northern expedition. Even if it was difficult to occupy it for a long time, it could cause unrest in the rear and see if he could force Zhao Yongping to withdraw his troops.