Chapter 49: The Great Fire in Yangzhou

From Yangzhou to Beijing, it takes several days to come and go.

By the time Hong Chengchou got the permission of the Empress Dowager, the Xia army had already arrived in Yangzhou City.

From the west and south, it approached Yangzhou City.

The canal is in the east of Yangzhou, so Hong Chengchou attaches the most importance to this side.

Along the canal line is a group of castles that continue for dozens of miles.

It's even harder.

Yuan Zongdi had already begun to attack the periphery of Yangzhou, especially the hills northwest of Yangzhou City. Because here, you can overlook the entire Yangzhou City.

Hong Chengchou is in the city of Yangzhou, looking out of the city.

Yangzhou is a prosperous place in the world.

But now it is in tatters.

When Zhang Xuan first hit the city of Yangzhou, the city walls of Yangzhou were hidden in layers of buildings, and if you didn't look closely, you couldn't see it clearly.

Today's Yangzhou city is extraordinarily majestic.

It's just that Yangzhou is not majestic today. It's just covered by the prosperity of Yangzhou. Now that the prosperity has washed away, Yangzhou has revealed the iron-blooded feeling in its genes.

Otherwise, people in the world seem to forget that the division of north and south, Yangzhou, Luzhou, and Xiangyang are all the key points in the world, the land of a hundred battles.

The faint sound of artillery reached Hong Chengchou's ears, and Hong Chengchou clenched a letter in his hand, but it was a letter from General Hou Fangyu.

There was no express decree of the imperial court. Only the words of the Queen Mother.

Now, though, it's all in the details.

Won. This reputation of the above things, only to do consideration.

Hong Chengchou ordered: "Do it according to the plan. ”

After nightfall, a man fell out of the city of Yangzhou. Defected to the camp of the Xia army.

Yuan Zongdi looked at the person in front of him and said, "You mean, Hong Chengchou is leaving?" ”

"General Yuan is wise." The general said: "The little one can see clearly, Hong Chengchou, the old horseman, has long wanted to leave the army behind and run away with people alone. ”

This person is Chen Hongfan.

Chen Hongfan is a Liao native and also guarded Xiangyang at the beginning. Later, the rebel army swept and surrendered, and followed Luo Yulong's northern expedition, and after the defeat, he surrendered immediately. Because there is an old relationship with Hong Chengchou. hugged Hong Chengchou's thigh.

It's just that people like him are the grass on the wall. Look so strong, fall that way. Although this kind of person is a villain, in such a situation. But it is the most sensitive.

Yuan Zongdi said, "Are you sure it's tonight?" ”

Chen Hongfan said: "The last general dares to guarantee with his life, and even tonight, the last general is also willing to open the way for the army and open the gate of Yangzhou City." ”

Yuan Zong hesitated for the first time.

Chen Hongfan's character, Yuan Zongdi naturally didn't believe it.

But this opportunity is too tempting.

The iron wall array arranged by Hong Chengchou

, it's really hard to gnaw.

Zhang Xuan sits in the camp of Jiangbei, while Yuan Zongdi and Gao Yigong are divided into left and right wings. A little tapping along the way, almost blasting a way with artillery.

After about a month, I touched the city of Yangzhou.

You must know how far Yangzhou City is from the Yangtze River.

It can be seen how much effort Yuan Zongdi has put in.

In such a war, Yuan Zongdi and Gao Yigong were not willing to fight anymore.

Yuan Zong gritted his teeth first, he was ready to gamble.

Send someone to report to Zhang Xuan first, and Zhang Xuan is dozens of miles away. But come and go, wait for Zhang Xuan to decide. The fighter plane was delayed.

It can only be cut first and then played.

However, it is also within his remit.

Zhang Xuan has always acquiesced in the right to act cheaply in the army, and if he wins the battle, he will make a decision on the spot. If the battle is lost, the punishment for both crimes will be combined.

The victor is not to blame. This is especially true in the military.

As long as you can win the battle. Anything that is substantially can be forgiven.

In order to prevent Chen Hongfan from surrendering. Therefore, Yuan Zongdi only selected a battalion of people, and under Chen Hongfan's arrangement, entered Yangzhou City.

He led a large group of men and horses to press the formation behind.

It's just that everything seems to be going well.

There's nothing wrong with that.

Just before dawn, I saw the fire on the city wall of Yangzhou turn three times, and then the city gate was opened, and the army came out, and the sound of fighting was loud.

Seeing this, Yuan Zongdi knew that the opportunity would not be lost and would not come again.

Then he took a large team of men and horses to pick him up.

After a fierce battle at the city gate, a large group of men and horses rushed into Yangzhou City.

However, Hong Chengchou's response methods are also quite ruthless.

I saw a fire burning.

Countless fires rose into the air, as if it was a net of heaven and earth, enveloping most of Yangzhou City, Yuan Zongdi saw this, and his first thought was that Chen Hongfan had harmed him.

Immediately ordered the left and right to arrest Chen Hongfan.

Chen Hongfan's eyes were round, and he was puzzled. With a chill in his heart, he said secretly: "All this is in the calculation of Inspector Hong. It wasn't until he was pressed in front of Yuan Zongdi that he remembered to shout out loudly. said: "The villain's bends are all buried in the fire." The villain doesn't know about the ambush here. ”

Yuan Zongdi sneered, waved his hand, and suddenly someone came out and took Chen Hongfan's head.

Yuan Zongdi may not have known that Chen Hongfan was a little wronged, but the matter has come to this point, although Yuan Zongdi moved fast enough, there are still more than 1,000 soldiers buried in the fire.

Someone has to be responsible for this matter.

Chen Hongfan's character is despicable, and he has no connections in the army, at this time, he does not borrow other people's heads, but borrow anyone's heads.

Yuan Zongdi first vented the anger of the army with Chen Hongfan's head, and then ordered the army to work together to demolish all the houses near the city gate and vacate a fire belt.

to stop the fire.

Overall, the casualties of the Xia army were not too many.

The real casualties are the people in Yangzhou City, Yangzhou City has been repeatedly calamitized, and the prosperity of two hundred years is always empty, but I don't know how many years it will take to recover.

The plague of war, the plague of war, is better than other plagues of floods and droughts and locusts.

Natural disasters are especially avoidable and inevitable.

The fire in Yangzhou lit up the night, as if the red sun was rising.

At this moment, Hong Chengchou took the people of his headquarters, on the west bank of the canal, looking at the flames of Yangzhou City from a distance, sighed lightly in his heart, and said, "Let's go." ”

Hong Chengchou's retreat, although panicked but not chaotic, almost when retreating, issued an order to the Qing troops stationed in various departments to fend for themselves.

For a time, the Yangzhou defense line was in chaos. Some people retreated with Hong Chengchou. Some surrendered to the Xia Dynasty. Anyway, Zhang Xuan is to kill all the Eight Banners.

And Hong Chengchou didn't have many people on his side. Naturally, they were willing to surrender.

The Yangzhou fire burned for three days in a row.

This is still the end of the army coming up after Zhang Xuan arrived and desperately fighting the fire.

Otherwise, I don't know how many days this fire will burn.

Even so, Yangzhou could not garrison a large army. Even outside Yangzhou, there is an unknown amount of fly ash. Zhang Xuan could only be stationed outside Yangzhou City.

The Yangzhou defense line, which had resisted the Xia army for more than a month, finally collapsed.

The generals led by Yuan Zongdi and Gao Yigong were all excited, and said to Zhang Xuan: "Now Hong Chengchou is already poor, otherwise he would not have burned Yangzhou City and left, and burned so many materials." At this time, the light army will chase after it, and it will definitely be able to win a big victory. ”

"If you let Hong Chengchou go now. There will be great trouble in the future. ”

Especially the last sentence, which made many generals hate in their hearts.

Those who are good at fighting have no great feats.

Hong Chengchou doesn't seem to be as famous as the people in the Aixin Jueluo family. But his ability is not less than them, if he talks about offense, he may not be as good as them, but in defense, he is better than Aixin Jueluo I don't know how much.

As the most powerful main group in Great Xia, it took more than a month to stumble on Yangzhou, and during this time period, Li Dingguo had completed the integration of Sichuan and tentatively attacked Hanzhong. Cao Zongyu was under the city of Luoyang, and he had been fighting endlessly, the battle of Wuguan, the Qing army worked in vain, and the battle of Xiangcheng spread to Xinyang in the south and Xiangcheng in the west, all of which became each other's battlefields.

And Zheng Chenggong also approached Liaoyang City step by step.

Da Su counterattacked several times, but under Zheng Chenggong's land and water attack, he retreated in defeat, this time Zheng Chenggong fought steadily and steadily, and there was no flaw to grasp at all.

And Dasu's own ability to grasp flaws is not as good as Azig.

However, Zhang Xuan led the main group and slammed the city of Yangzhou, but only advanced for dozens of miles. Moreover, the main strength of the Qing army is placed in Luoyang City, and Hong Chengchou has resisted the main force with a partial division but has insisted on it until now, which shows his ability.