Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 400 Yuncheng

Dingtao City has a river to the north and Qinghuang Town to the south. The direction in which the Zhou cavalry broke out was the wilderness to the east.

Huang Cheng rode out lightly, and Oboi led the Eight Banners Cavalry, whistling and chasing Huang Cheng. From time to time, the Qing cavalry tried to stop Huang Cheng, and the Zhou cavalry shouted "Charge!" from time to time.

On the battlefield, the sounds of horse hooves, the neighing of horses and the collision of weapons mixed together, and the air was filled with the smell of blood. The Qing army chased and shot arrows, like peeling an onion, causing the Zhou army cavalry on the periphery to fall down from time to time.

Huang Cheng was a little unsure at this moment whether his choice was correct. If they had defended the city, Hauge's troops were all cavalry and were not good at attacking cities, and the Zhou cavalry would certainly not have suffered such heavy losses. However, since the decision had been made, even if it was wrong, it could not be changed.

The Zhou army's cavalry no longer spared their horsepower and charged forward fiercely. After suffering more than 600 casualties, Huang Cheng led his troops out of the Qing army's attack range.

Aobai stopped his horse and chased the Zhou army until they were almost at Yuncheng. He looked at the direction where the Zhou army was going away, and a trace of regret flashed across his face. Although he successfully intercepted part of the Zhou army's cavalry, he failed to wipe them out completely.

In Dingtao city.

County Magistrate Fang Ji felt like crying but had no tears. He felt the world's deep malice towards him. No matter if Haoge had come half a day earlier or Huang Cheng had come half a day later, he would not have felt so uncomfortable.

When Haoge led his troops into Dingtao City, the county magistrate Fang Ji knelt at the city gate with his buttocks sticking out, touching the ground with his head, and shouted, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you, your Highness!"

Hauge was riding on a horse. When he heard this, he stopped his horse and asked, "Are you the county magistrate?"

Fang Ji did not dare to raise his head, and hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, the guilty minister is Fang Ji, the magistrate of Dingtao County."

Haoge pointed with his whip and said, "Behead him!"

When Fang Ji heard this, he fainted immediately. Then Haoge pointed at someone at random and said, "It's you. You will be the county magistrate from now on."

The man was overjoyed and thanked him repeatedly. Haoge was too lazy to listen to these words of loyalty and drove his horse into the city. At this time, Leng Sengji came over and said, "Your Majesty, Fang Ji surrendered to the enemy, so we can kill him. But if Your Majesty easily promises an official position in the court, will it make the regent feel resentful?"

Haoge snorted coldly: "Humph, Dorgon has made the world a mess, what right does he have to be dissatisfied? If I were the emperor, why would I shave my head? If I hadn't shaved my head, I would have been in a peaceful and prosperous era long ago. Now I am appointing a small official, is there a problem with that!"

After resting in Dingtao for a day, Hauge led the Eight Banners to continue his eastward march. He had traveled such a long distance that it was impossible for him to just kill hundreds of cavalrymen and leave. Hauge prepared to march to Yuncheng to see if there was a chance to eliminate Liu Tichun and Hao Yongzhong's detachment.

In Yuncheng, Liu Tichun, Liu Titong, Hao Yongzhong, and Wang Jincai looked at each other after listening to Huang Cheng's detailed account. After a while, Hao Yongzhong asked, "How many soldiers are there in this enemy army?"

Huang Cheng said hesitantly: "I only saw cavalry, not infantry, but there were more than 10,000 cavalry."

Liu Tichun thought for a moment and said, "If Dorgon were to go south and start a war with such a large number of Eight Banners troops, the news would surely be exposed. I think it must be Hauge's troops."

Liu Tichun then sent a fast horse to report to Meng Jun that the Qing army had entered Shandong.

In the afternoon of the next day, Qing cavalry began to appear outside Yuncheng, and Liu Tichun ordered the city gates to be closed.

With the appearance of the Qing cavalry, the atmosphere in Yuncheng became somewhat tense. The lookout on the top of the city discovered that on the distant horizon, a large army was approaching at an alarming speed. Liu Tichun quickly climbed up the city wall to observe the invading enemy. He saw Hauge's cavalry coming in large numbers, the sound of iron hooves was shocking, and people could not help but feel an extreme sense of oppression.

Liu Tichun and others watched from the top of the city for a long time, but did not see any Qing infantry. Hao Yongzhong touched his chin and asked, "Looking at this posture, although it is a bit intimidating, there are only 10,000 cavalry. We have 140,000 soldiers in Shandong, including firearms. Haoge has only 10,000 people. What's the point of coming here?"

Hauge surrounded Yuncheng. If the people in the city did not come out, Hauge would have no way to deal with Liu Tichun. After discussing with his generals for a long time, Hauge came up with a dirty trick. He ordered the cavalry to go out and plunder the surrounding areas. This time the Qing army only burned houses and looted food. Hauge ordered not to kill anyone unless it was necessary.

The Qing army drove these refugees to the outskirts of Yuncheng City. Within just a few days, the city was filled with refugees crying for food.

Hao Yongzhong kept cursing on the city wall, and the generals were very upset about this. They wanted to ignore the people outside the city, but they were afraid that the king would blame them. After racking their brains, Liu Kun, a general under Huang Cheng, came up with an idea.

Liu Kun's idea was to send people out of the city to roughly organize the refugees, send women, children, the elderly and the weak into the city first, then build a few tents outside the city and provide some porridge, and lower the food in hanging baskets. At the same time, in the inner city gate, build several earth walls with stones and wood, leaving narrow passages on both sides. On the one hand, this would allow the refugees to enter the city, and on the other hand, even if the Qing cavalry rushed in, they would not be able to increase their speed.

Liu Tichun listened to Liu Kun's proposal, frowned and thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Although this method is risky, it seems feasible. As long as it is properly controlled, it can not only save the people, but also prevent the enemy troops from taking advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos."

At this time, Wang Jin asked, "With so many refugees pouring into the city, I'm afraid the food in the city won't last long."

Liu Tichun said: "No matter how little food we have, we can still hold out for a month or so. Can Haoge stay here for half a month? Let's do it!"

Huang Cheng then selected a group of elite soldiers, carried food, and lowered them down the city wall with ropes. They first sent women, children, the elderly and the weak into the city, and then built simple porridge sheds outside the city. While distributing porridge, they organized a simple order according to clan and local relations.

At the same time, at the city gate, with the full efforts of tens of thousands of laborers and soldiers, two earthen walls up to the height of a person's shoulder were built the next morning. The earthen walls were semicircular with a small passage on each side. In order to prevent spies, all men had to take off their shirts and raise their hands high to enter the city.

At the city gate, Liu Tichun's army was ready. On the city wall, densely packed archers gathered on the tower, drawing their bows and ready to shoot.

At first, the Qing army did not expect that the Zhou army would have such a response strategy. Seeing the refugees being accepted into the city one after another, Hauge was overjoyed. He did not expect that the Yuncheng defender would be so pedantic.

Haoge laughed loudly and said, "What a fool! So stupid!"

Afterwards, Hauge urgently ordered Oboi to lead a thousand cavalrymen to attack the city. Seeing this, the refugees outside the city were panicked and in chaos. Some fled to the sides of the city gate, but more people frantically squeezed into the city gate.