readsfreenovel Chapter 438: Surrender
Chapter 438: Surrender
It was obvious that Bai Yongfu's large camp was not one that could be easily breached. Dorgon attacked it for two days, spent a lot of effort, and lost more than 3,000 soldiers. He merely filled the trenches, cleared the stakes, and created a passage in the western moat that was large enough for the offensive.
Dorgon then tried to attack for a day, but the camp remained unmoved. At this time, after Hao Yongzhong's troops withdrew to the camp, Bai Yongfu's camp had sufficient troops, more than 15,000 people. When Dorgon's troops arrived, Bai Yongfu reported to Meng Jun: "I dare not say that the camp I guard will last for a year or half, but within a month, it will be safe. If the camp is breached before a month, please behead me!"
Meng Jun was relieved by this, so he concentrated on digging the tunnel in Tianjin. The Zhou army fired continuous artillery fire outside the East City and South City. Although there were some intervals between each attack, it still successfully disrupted the Tianjin defenders' method of eavesdropping.
After unremitting efforts day and night, Zhou Jun's engineering team successfully completed the secret passage leading to the bottom of the east wall of Tianjin.
The fourth year of the Yongli reign, July, 18th, night.
The Zhou army had successfully placed 5,000 kilograms of gunpowder under the Tianjin city wall. According to the prior arrangement, they carefully placed the gunpowder in a fixed position.
Before dawn, smoke rose from the Zhou army camp as the soldiers had lunch. Then they marched out of the camp and formed a battle array. The defenders of Tianjin were horrified and shouted, "The Zhou army has dug to the city!"
The defenders did not dare to stay on the top of the wall. Only one person was left every hundred meters on the wall for observation. The defenders had already prepared in advance for the collapse of the wall.
Seeing this, Zhao Yongping said helplessly: "The king's method of bombing the city is already known to everyone in the world!"
Qian Biao said disapprovingly: "So what if we know? Do they have any way to stop us? As long as the city wall collapses, the army will rush into the city to fight, which is always easier than climbing the city wall!"
Meng Jun gave the order to ignite the fire, and the fuse was lit. There was a brief silence, and then a low roar came from deep underground, and then the power of the explosion was suddenly released!
The earth shook and a loud explosion broke the silence. Then part of the city wall collapsed, and rubble and dust flew all over the sky. After these bombings, the Zhou army's earthwork team had become more experienced. The digging position was just right, and the amount of gunpowder used was less, but the power was not reduced at all.
Meng Jun looked at the collapsed city wall and suddenly felt something in his heart. Perhaps in the future, right at this moment, the defensive function of the city wall would no longer be able to return to its former glory.
Once the city wall was breached, the Zhou army was already prepared and with the heavily armored troops as the vanguard, they charged into the city in a massive manner. However, what Gao Yi did not expect was that the defenders in the city directly dispatched their only 1,800 elite soldiers to block the breach.
For a moment, the heavy armored army was blocked in the gap. Meng Jun observed the battlefield and made a prompt decision, ordering the Po Lu Army to replace Gao Yi's heavy armored army.
Although Gao Yi was somewhat unwilling to accept Meng Jun's order to retreat, military orders were as firm as a mountain, so he had no choice but to retreat and leave the battlefield to the Po Lu Army.
The Po Lu army formed a three-sided attack at the gap, with each side divided into five rows, and a small cannon placed in front of the formation every fifty steps.
Meng Jun stood quietly under the flag, watching the Po Lu Army in front of him start firing. Then, at a command from the Po Lu Army camp officer Chen Changgong, a continuous barrage of bullets began to be fired towards the gap.
Looking at this scene, an absurd picture suddenly appeared in Meng Jun's mind. It was a scene from Napoleon's Total War game, with several teams of musketeers surrounding an exit and shooting continuously. That scene made Meng Jun at the time exclaim that it was very exciting.
On the periphery of the gap, the Po Lu Army fired thousands of projectiles in the first round of volleys from three sides, then reloaded on the spot, the second row stepped forward and fired a volley, the third row stepped forward again and fired again. During the volley of muskets, the sound of artillerymen shouting "Fire!" was heard.
After five rounds of volleys, a gust of wind blew away the thick smoke of black gunpowder. As far as the eye could see, there were only a few Eight Banners soldiers at the gap, still standing there peacefully. They seemed to be frightened and stood there in a daze.
It was not until Gao Yi's heavy armored troops rushed up that they seemed to come to their senses and fled madly. Who said the Eight Banners were invincible? It was just that the damage had not yet been done.
The Eight Banners were defeated. The two thousand Mongolian soldiers watching from behind looked at each other in horror. The Eight Banners cavalry that had once chased and killed Ligdan Khan all the way across the grassland were destroyed so easily and in the blink of an eye. This seemed unbelievable in the eyes of the Mongolian cavalry.
As the heavy armored army entered the city, the various troops following closely behind also poured into the city one after another. Seeing this, the Mongolian cavalry planned to escape, but Gulbuha saw this and hurriedly sent Laxi forward to stop them.
Because Gulbuha keenly grasped the psychology of these Mongolian cavalrymen. The Mongolian cavalrymen's awe lies in the strong. Once the image of the strong collapses, it is the best time to surrender.
So he offered advice to Meng Jun, proposing to recruit the Mongolian cavalry to expand the cavalry strength of the Zhou army.
So, after Laxi temporarily stopped the Mongolian cavalry, Gulbuha came forward in person. As a former senior general of the Mongolian cavalry, he spoke in front of the battle about the current strength of the Zhou army and the weakness of the Qing court.
The leader of this Mongolian cavalry was a member of the Balin tribe named Geji. Faced with the tragic situation of the Eight Banners, Geji deeply doubted whether the Qing court could still hold on, especially since Gulbuha still held a high position in the Zhou army. This showed that the King of Zhou might not treat Mongolia any worse than the Qing court. So Geji finally decided to lead his troops in surrender.
As the saying goes, a defeat is like a mountain collapsing, the wave of surrender was like dominoes, which could not be stopped. The Eight Banners were gone, the Mongolian cavalry surrendered, and the Han army flags sent by Dorgon to defend the city had no intention of resisting.
After dozens of people who refused to surrender were killed within the Han army, more than 4,500 Han soldiers surrendered to Zhou.
The city of Tianjin fell, the elite troops of the Eight Banners were all killed, and the Mongolian and Han armies all surrendered. This news was like a bolt from the blue, striking Dorgon's heart.
After hearing the bad news, a hot air rushed up his throat and sprayed out, dyeing the armor on his chest red. Dorgon's body swayed slightly, and his face turned from blue to white, changing several times, and his eyes were full of disbelief.
After a short pause, Dorgon strictly ordered his guards not to reveal any information, otherwise they would be executed immediately. Then Dorgon immediately summoned Suksaha.
When he arrived, Dorgon said, "Tianjin has been captured. All eight banners defending the city have been defeated. Both the Mongolian and Han armies have surrendered."
Suksaha had a complicated expression when he heard this. He was filled with anger and fear. He pondered for a long time before he slowly said, "Regent, Meng Jun has conquered Tianjin. It is meaningless for us to continue to besiege the Bai bandits."
Hearing this, Dorgon's mouth twitched, but his smile was a little bitter, and there seemed to be a lot of emotion in it. He said: "In the past, the Japanese king was so powerful and swept across the world. He never thought that the Qing Dynasty would suffer such a setback one day!"