Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 299: Seizing Huai'an

After entering Huai'an City, Zhao Yongping felt relieved, knowing that he had successfully broken through the Qing army's defense line. The moment the city gate opened, Zhao Yongping's troops rushed into Huai'an City like hungry tigers.

At this time, the soldiers defending the city had not yet reacted. They were caught off guard by the sudden attack. It was not until the Zhou army wielded their weapons mercilessly and chopped down the defenders at the city gates one by one that the defenders were surprised to find that it was the Zhou army that had entered the city.

Dozens of corpses lay dead at the city gate, blood dyed the ground red, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood, which kept entering Zhao Yongping's nose. Wu Zhifan was covered in blood, like a god of death. The Green Camp soldiers who were swept by his eyes were frightened and trembled. They involuntarily dropped their weapons and knelt down to beg for surrender.

Zhao Yongping knew that time was running out, so he immediately ordered his troops to send a signal to the rear, notifying the follow-up troops to enter the city as soon as possible.

Ma Sangge was feeling uneasy. After returning to the mansion, he had no mood to sleep. Just as Ma Sangge was standing there restlessly, several cavalrymen rushed past. One of them jumped off his horse, rushed into the mansion, and said to Ma Sangge: "The enemy army has entered the city, and General Ke has been captured!"

Ma Sangge was shocked and angry, and cursed: "Who opened the city gate? Didn't I tell you not to open the city gate without permission?"

The messenger naturally didn't know and just shook his head to indicate that he didn't know.

Ma Sangge acted decisively, mounted his warhorse and headed towards the Eight Banners Army’s garrison.

When Wang Wenkui heard the news that Ke Yongsheng had been captured and the city gate had been seized, he was stunned. It took him a long while to come to his senses. He cursed: "Is Ke Yongsheng a pig? Which bastard opened the city gate? I will kill him!"

Afterwards, Wang Wenkui urgently mobilized the camp soldiers to try to drive out Zhou's army, but the city was in chaos. Seeing that the situation was not good, many Green Camp soldiers took off their military uniforms and ran away. At this time in Huai'an City, Wang Wenkui racked his brains, but could only gather more than 2,000 people. The rest were either scattered or escaped. No one paid any attention to them, and the city was in chaos.

Just when the defenders of Huai'an City were in panic, Gao Jinku led the main force into Huai'an City. At this point, Huai'an City had gradually fallen into the control of Zhao Yongping, and the Qing army was no longer able to turn the tide.

Wang Wenkui saw that the situation was critical and Huai'an City could not be defended, so he simply used the gathered Green Camp soldiers as his bodyguards. Wang Wenkui fled Huai'an City in a hurry with his family and valuables.

Zhao Yongping seemed busy controlling the city, not to mention chasing Wang Wenkui, so Wang Wenkui escaped from Huai'an City easily. Not only Wang Wenkui, but Ma Sangge also escaped from Huai'an City with 380 banner soldiers. He did not think that he could recapture the city with only 300 people of his own.

Wang Wenkui fled to Taoyuan County (now Siyang County). As soon as he settled down, he submitted a memorial to the regent Dorgon, saying that Ke Yongsheng had long harbored rebellious intentions and had used the excuse of leading his troops out of the city for a night attack, but in fact he had taken the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the city gate. Huai'an was lost as a result of the surprise attack.

Wang Wenkui carefully considered his words and tried to distance himself from the failure of Huai'an. However, after thinking for a long time, Wang Wenkui always felt that something was wrong, as if he had missed some important information.

Just as Wang Wenkui was pondering, Ma Sangge led more than 300 Red Banner soldiers and retreated to Taoyuan County.

As soon as the two met, Wang Wenkui saw Ma Sangge's red eyes and knew what was wrong. He might be able to hide this memorial from others, but not from Ma Sangge. If he revealed the matter in the memorial, he, Wang Wenkui, would not only lose Huai'an, but also deceive the Regent by submitting the memorial. He would be punished for both crimes, and being sent to the vegetable market would be the lightest punishment.

Wang Wenkui forced himself to remain calm and said to Ma Sangge, "Sir Ma, the failure of Huai'an was actually the fault of the thief Ke. I have already written a memorial, Sir Ma, you can sign it together."

Ma Sangge took Wang Wenkui's memorial and flew into a rage after seeing it. He cursed, "Wang Wenkui, you are so shameless. It was you who asked Ke Yongsheng to leave the city and attack the camp. Now you are pushing all the blame onto others. I will never sign this memorial. I will ask someone to write the memorial myself. The regent will definitely know the truth. Wang Wenkui, just wash your neck and wait for death!"

After saying this, Ma Sangge flicked his whip, ignored Wang Wenkui's expression of eating shit, and rode away.

The staff came to Wang Wenkui and whispered, "Dong Weng, if Ma Sangge reports what happened here to the Regent, it will be extremely disadvantageous to Dong Weng!"

Wang Wenkui showed a trace of panic on his face, and whispered: "Is there any way to survive this disaster?"

After pondering for a moment, the aide whispered a few words in Wang Wenkui's ear. Wang Wenkui's face changed and no one knew what he was thinking.

........................

In Huai'an city.

As Gao Jinku rushed into Huai'an City, there were few people in the city who dared to resist. Occasionally, a few Green Camp soldiers were brave enough to fight against the Zhou army with weapons, but two fists could not beat four hands. The slight disturbance was quickly quelled and Huai'an City gradually became quiet.

In the end, Zhao Yongping successfully captured Huai'an City. Huai'an City not only brought a large amount of supplies to Zhao Yongping, but also had an extremely important strategic location. Taking Huai'an meant opening up the road to the north, whether going north to Shandong and contacting the Yuyuan Army, or going west to threaten Duoduo's food route. Although it was a small force, in the current chess game of the world, Dorgon could no longer ignore Huai'an and Zhao Yongping.

This battle demonstrated Zhao Yongping's military strategy of using the normal to unite and the unusual to win. A scholar leading an army can also become famous throughout the world.

As soon as Wang Wenkui ran away, the huge Huai'an Governor's Mansion fell into chaos. Many servants and slaves even stole property or injured people with weapons. The chaos was not over until Gao Jinku led his troops to surround the Governor's Mansion.

Gao Jinku and others rushed in and broke into Wang Wenkui's Governor's Mansion. As soon as they entered the flower hall, they saw huanghuali tables and chairs, porcelain from the Jingtai period, and some famous calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls.

Gao Jinku leaned over to take a look. There were many kinds of patterns, with signatures from the Tang and Song dynasties. Although Gao Jinku didn't recognize any of them, he knew that any one of them was a priceless treasure.

Gao Jinku looked around and couldn't help but feel dazzled. He shook his head and said loudly, "Put away all these calligraphy and paintings, and also the tables and chairs. I was going to present these treasures to the king. Oh, this bastard, even the chamber pot is gold-plated. Put them all away, clean them, and present them to the king."