Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 524: West City Collapse

The Qing army attacked the camp, the Qian army howled, and Jiang Xiang's face turned black with anger. If Suksaha had not been beheaded by General Wang Fuchen, Jiang Xiang could imagine how he would be humiliated in future history books.

Even if the Qing general Suksaha was beheaded, it would only make Jiang Xiang feel better, but it would still not change the outcome of this battle, in which the Qing army won a great victory and the Qian army was defeated.

After Zhao Yongping learned the whole process of the Qing army's attack on the camp last night, his face was also very bad. He said in a cold voice: "General Jiang is a veteran, how could he make such a low-level mistake?"

Jiang Xiang murmured, "I am guilty, please punish me, Marshal!"

Zhao Yongping shook his head and said in a slightly cold tone, "I will not punish you now. Instead, I will circulate Suksaha's head among the whole army. The war is imminent, how can we shake the morale of the army!"

Afterwards, Zhao Yongping ordered his men to circulate Suksaha's head to the three armies, and said: "The enemy attacked the camp at night, and Wang Fuchen killed the enemy general, Suksaha, in battle!"

For a time, the morale of the Qian army on the east, west and south sides was high. Only the Qian army on the north side, whose camp had just been broken into by the Qing army, knew clearly that they had lost the battle last night.

In Shengjing City, Jirgalang had mixed feelings. He was happy that last night's raid could be said to be a great victory, and at least for the next period of time, the pressure on the North City would be reduced. But he was worried that General Suksaha had died in the battle.

By this time in the Qing Dynasty, many experienced generals and princes had died or grown old. Continuous strategic military defeats had left many young people with no chance to grow up. The death of Suksaha was also a heavy blow to the Qing Dynasty.

At this point, Jirgalang could only sigh: "A clay pot will break if it is not away from the well mouth, and a great general will inevitably die in battle!"

Things in the world are unpredictable. Jirgalang calmed himself down and spread the news of last night's surprise attack on the Qian army camp and the great victory throughout the city.

The result was that the Qian army was shouting a great victory, and the Qing army was also shouting a great victory. Both sides believed that the other side suffered a great loss in last night's battle.

On the third day, light snow.

In the early morning, in the camp of the Qian army, the war drums sounded again, and the various units of the Qian army filed out one after another. On the southeast and west sides, the Qian army once again deployed a large array under the city with various siege weapons.

Although Jiang Xiang was attacked last night, Zhao Yongping did not intend to stop attacking the city. He planned to take another tack on the tough nut of Shenyang City.

The generals from each town encouraged and boosted morale in front of the battlefield. For a moment, the surroundings of Shenyang City were filled with thunderous shouts. The battle was similar to that of the day before, with the same tactics and formula.

Zhao Yongping, who was standing behind the formation, frowned more and more as he watched. After watching for a long time, he became furious and said, "Pass on my order. Anyone who does not advance during the patrol will be killed!"

It turned out that they were Li Hao's soldiers. They looked powerful, but in fact, they did not pose any threat to the city. Sometimes the defenders would fire a rain of arrows to force the Korean army to retreat. However, these Korean soldiers also knew that if they ran back, they would be chopped by the supervision team. Therefore, they would retreat for a while, then raise their shields and move forward slowly, looking like they were working but not putting in any effort.

Following the murderous words of the supervision team, the Korean army on the front line finally put in some effort, but after a day of painless fighting, Shenyang was still in the hands of the Qing army.

After the war, Zhao Yongping killed twelve Korean officers and more than two hundred soldiers who were at a disadvantage in attacking the city.

However, after the killing, there was great dissatisfaction within the Korean army, so Zhao Yongping thought again and again, and then ordered the Korean soldiers to rest temporarily.

On the third night, Zhao Yongping ordered the Mongolian tribes to go into battle at a military meeting. As a result, the leaders of the sixteen tribes all became clamorous, saying that they were cavalry and how could they serve as infantry to attack the city.

Zhao Yongping stared at the leaders of the tribes in the military tent and said in a deep voice: "Now our army has gathered its strength here, consuming countless food every day just to conquer Jianzhou. I have made up my mind. Anyone who disobeys orders will be punished mercilessly by military law. Besides, the tribes have come here to form an alliance. Are they here to watch the scenery under the city of Shenyang?"

Then Zhao Yongping slowed down his tone and said, "Everyone, once Shenyang is conquered and Jianzhou is destroyed, your majesty will definitely reward you in the future!"

The leaders of various tribes also understood that when you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Moreover, they really didn't put in much effort following Qian Chao during this period. Therefore, after looking at each other, the leaders successively expressed their willingness to obey the military orders of Marshal Zhao.

On the fourth day, the Mongolian cavalry dismounted and cooperated with the Qian army headquarters to attack the city. On that day, the Qian army attacked the city walls on all four sides, and even occupied a section of the wall in the south city. It was only in the end that the Qing army threw a large number of kerosene cans and burned the climbing ladders and siege towers, and only then were they able to hold the city wall.

The continuous fierce fighting also greatly reduced the Qing army's supplies for defending the city. On the fifth day, the Qing army's artillery rarely fired, and the artillerymen aimed again and again before lighting the cannon and firing.

By the evening of the fifth day, there were still 20,000 Qing soldiers still able to fight, and the war had entered a white-hot stage.

On the sixth day, under continuous artillery bombardment, the southern section of the west city wall was destroyed by artillery fire. Zhao Yongping was overjoyed and ordered Qian Biao to lead the elite troops of Wuning Town to attack the gap. He also ordered the Mongolian soldiers to dismount and provide support with arrows on the battlefield.

On the ground, the soldiers of the Qian army shouted that the city had been broken, and a huge crowd of people gathered towards the gap. The war scene was extremely grand.

Before this, Zhao Yongping used a large number of artillery to bombard the west city. Jirgalang was worried that the city wall would be collapsed by the artillery, so he prepared a large amount of sand and stones behind the wall, and built a half-moon wall at the place where the cannon was bombarded. This wall was naturally not as strong as the original wall, and only four people could barely stand side by side on it. However, this was better than having no wall to fight face to face with the Qian army.

However, Jirgalang made some mistakes, or rather, he was not thoughtful enough. The wall he built behind the wall was only 15 feet high, which was only one-third of the height of the original wall. Even if the city was destroyed by artillery fire, it was still much higher than the newly built wall.

The city wall was blown down, and under Jirgalang's urgent order, the reserve troops in Shenyang immediately gathered towards the gap from various streets.

With the rise of firearms, the role of city walls will become smaller and smaller. Except for those passes in special locations, ordinary plain cities will be vulnerable to the power of artillery.

Qian Biao rushed to the highest point of the collapse, and crouched on the messy bricks. He looked out and found that the Qing army had actually built another wall behind the city wall. He was stunned, then laughed and said, "Isn't this arranged by God? Standing here, looking down from above, what's the difference between this and a building!"

Afterwards, Qian Biao ordered his men to bring some ladders over quickly, and at the same time ordered his men to shoot at the Qing army from the highest point of the gap. Qian Biao stuck his head out and watched for a while, but felt that it was not satisfying, so he ordered people to bring a small cannon over.