Chapter 153: Empty City Strategy (Part 2)
Huo Chong was a straightforward person. Hearing the Qing army's challenge from the city, he ignored them and continued to carry out the preparations he had made.
Seeing the calmness of the city, Li Shude became uneasy. He handed the monocular telescope to the guy , "Look again, make sure you recognize it!"
The man was a scholar from Linzi County. He had never used a telescope before, so he was not used to it. He could only lean on his hands and squint to see who was on the top of the city wall. Li Shude asked the other locals from Linzi who came to seek refuge, "You said there are not many thieves in Linzi County? Are you lying to me?"
Those in Linzi who were loyal to the Qing Dynasty hurriedly replied with a smile: "Sir, we only saw one or two hundred people in the city. We found out that there are only two hundred bandit soldiers in the city."
Li Shude was in turmoil. He discussed with General Xie Cilü that both sides should attack Huo Chong together. In order to prevent Huo Chong from defeating them one by one, the two sides should strengthen communication.
Among the two armies, Li Shude's troops were the smallest in number, so Xie Cilü suggested that Li Shude should be extra careful, as Huo Chong might attack Li Shude's troops first.
Li Shude, who had been advancing cautiously in the past few days, received news from Jinan that Huo Chong's bandit army was attacking Jinan, and asked Xie Cilü and Li Shude to speed up and attack Huo Chong. According to Li Shude's temperament, he could not tolerate a Han official who dared to order Li Shude, a member of the Zhenghuang Banner, around like this.
However, thinking of Yongzheng's attitude and his own criminal status, Li Shude decided to be timid for now. He did not go to Jinan to provide assistance, but raided Huo Chong's lair.
As they continued to advance slowly, some people in Linzi County who were loyal to the Qing Dynasty came to report the situation in Linzi County. After careful questioning, Li Shude felt that all the information matched. After slaughtering and exiling a group of Jinshi families, Huo Chong's main force went north to attack Jinan. At this time, Linzi and Zibo were extremely empty, which gave Li Shude the opportunity to redeem himself and make meritorious contributions.
After asking the group again, Li Shude was extremely anxious. The Empty City Plan was a play that was often performed. Li Shude had seen it many times. However, looking at the open city gate, Li Shude still felt fear and uneasiness deep in his heart. Could things really be that simple?
The red cannon moves slowly and will not arrive until tomorrow. Li Shude decided to send someone to give it a try first.
"Pass the order down, whoever dares to enter the city gate and climb to the top of the city wall will be rewarded with ten taels of silver!" Li Shude began to offer a reward.
Some people wanted to go, but no soldier dared to step out. Li Shude doubled the amount, "Twenty taels of silver. The whole army is under the city. As long as you can get to the top of the city wall and retreat, you can get twenty taels of silver."
Twenty taels was more attractive to the soldiers, but no one dared to stand up. Li Shude made up his mind and bid thirty taels. Finally, a dozen or so more aggressive people stood up.
"Beat the drums and cheer! Bring them wine!" Li Shude ordered.
Huo Chong put down his telescope on the top of the city wall and looked. It was surprising that the Qing army did not carry any artillery. The proportion of firearms in the Qing Dynasty was not low.
The barrel of the Qing Dynasty's fire gun was long and thin. To modern people like Huo Chong, the barrel was too long. The Qing army called it a bird gun, which means to accurately shoot down flying birds.
The equipment of the Green Camp was definitely inferior to that of the Eight Banners. Judging from the proportion of captured weapons, the proportion of musketeers in the Green Camp was close to 40%. From the torture of captured officers, it was said that musketeers accounted for half of the infantry of the Eight Banners, and swordsmen and archers only accounted for half.
Looking down, the Qing army, which was about a hundred meters away from the city wall, finally gathered a group of people, drinking and bowing. Huo Chong finally felt that he could enter the battle phase. He saw more than a dozen people holding weapons and rushing towards the city. Yang Wangfu, who was in charge of commanding the battle, rushed to the city wall and asked, "Sir, what should we do?"
"Prepare for battle according to the previous arrangements." Huo Chong responded.
It didn't take too long to cover a distance of a hundred meters. A dozen drunken Qing soldiers rushed in through the open gate. But they didn't rush into the city, but ran straight to the top of the city along the corridor.
When Huo Chong saw that this group of people were doing this, he drew his sword.
Li Shude, who was outside the city, saw the Qing army on top of the city wall. The man on top of the city wall who was believed to be Huo Chong stood up and drew his sword. He immediately shouted, "Beat the drums harder!"
Amid the dense drumbeats, several Qing soldiers on the city wall fell to the sound of gunfire. The man, who might be Huo Chong, approached the Qing soldiers with knives with strange and smooth steps, and hacked them to death in a few rounds.
Amid the sound of drums, the people on the city wall threw down a dozen Qing army corpses, as if they were throwing a dozen broken sacks. Even the Qing army drummers beating the drums in front of the battle line knew that something was wrong, and before they knew it, the drums stopped. The world temporarily returned to peace.
Li Shude felt a nameless rage rising, and was so angry that he was fuming. It would be fine if the dozen Qing soldiers were ambushed, but they were killed by a few people on the city wall like cutting melons and vegetables. If the enemy was not made aware of their strength, there would be no need to fight this battle.
Seeing that the city gate was still open, Li Shude ordered his bravest vanguard battalion to attack.
The leader of the vanguard camp saw that Li Shude looked like he was going to kill someone, so he could only lead the vanguard camp to move forward. Then he heard the sound of drums from behind, and turned around to see that Li Shude had already mobilized the entire army to move forward. It seemed that once the vanguard camp rushed into the city, the entire army would enter the city.
Now the vanguard camp had the courage, shouted, and continued to charge forward.
"Finally it's here." Huo Chong couldn't help but swear.
The Qing army's muskets were muzzle-loading smoothbore matchlocks. This type of musket was not designed for close combat at all. The weapons of Huo Chong's subordinates were reverse-engineered from the latest French flintlock muskets provided by Spanish merchant Oda Hideyoshi, and were designed for single-soldier close combat and long-range combat.
When the Qing army's vanguard battalion entered the city, they soon discovered that although the roads were still roads, the roads and alleys were cut off at a certain distance by fortifications.
As the Qing army approached, the Han army in the fortifications immediately opened fire. These narrow passages made it impossible for the Qing army to hide, and rows of bullets were fired, directly knocking down the Qing army in rows.
The Qing troops outside heard the loud gunshots from inside the city and hurried forward, wanting to fire volleys at the top of the city.
However, the red flags on the top of the city were waving, and the gaps in the battlements revealed the black muzzles of the guns. In the smoke and fire, the shells whistled in. Because the ranks were too dense, the body of a Qing soldier was not enough to absorb the kinetic energy of a shell.
Often three or four persons were killed or wounded before a shell finally hit the ground.
Li Shude saw some signs of hesitation in the central army and knew that if he withdrew this time, he would not be able to organize a new attack in a short time. Seeing the city gate open, Li Shude made up his mind and shouted, "Charge forward. If you rush to the city, you won't be hit by the artillery!"
The Qing army at this time was far from the army during the Opium War, and the orders from superiors were still effective.
The commanders of each team urged the Qing army to speed up in the face of the artillery shells.
Huo Chong on the top of the city wall sighed in his heart, "That's it! That's how it should be!"
The artillery bombardment stopped, and more than a dozen thick black barrels were pushed out at an angle downward. Because the openings were blocked by very strong wooden boards, the contents did not fall out because the openings were downward.
The fuse was lit, and soon, loud roars were heard, and a large amount of iron sand and gravel fell on the approaching Qing army like a storm.
