Chapter 103: The Lonely City Envoy III

When the king of Joseon heard Zhang Xuan's decree, he couldn't help but be surprised.

In Zhang Xuan's holy decree, he naturally praised the king of Joseon and named the king of Joseon as the king of Han. It is the same level as Cao Zongyu, Li Dingguo, and others.

However, he also appointed Zhou Chang as the ambassador of North Korea, exercising all the rights of the imperial court in Korea.

This sentence is playful.

It's just that the king of Joseon didn't have time to figure out the deep meaning for a while. Zhou Chang had already finished reading, and he said unceremoniously: "His Royal Highness King Han, now at this critical juncture, the lower officials will gossip less, the Qing court is about to attack the city, and the lower officials ask the king of Han to patrol the city with all the honor guards." Morale is encouraged. ”

The king of Joseon was astonished to hear this, he had been above the city before. It was only because of the sharp artillery fire of the Qing army that the soldiers suffered heavy casualties on the top of the city. It was simply untenable for a while.

And he withdrew from the city.

He didn't dare to go to the city anymore, not only did he not dare, but even many soldiers in the Korean army did not dare to go to the city.

However, the king of Joseon still had some results in reorganizing his army and fighting in the past two years, and there were still some loyal people, which kept Seoul from falling.

"Lord Zhou's words are wrong. Your Highness's golden body, how can you go to the dangerous place in person? Immediately someone said.

What Zhou Chang did above the main hall stunned everyone.

Almost all North Korean ministers felt that Zhou Chang was a madman.

However, some ministers of the anti-Qing faction saw Zhou Chang like this, and they were not without guilt in their hearts. Naturally, there were people who spoke out against it.

Zhou Chang said: "Since this is the case, please ask the king of Han to give the official full power, and give him a guard of honor, and the lower official is willing to inspect the city wall on behalf of the king of Han and supervise the battle." ”

The king of Joseon said, "Okay. Good. Good. ”

Zhou Chang took another step forward and said, "Without further ado, King Han will also be awarded the honor guard." ”

Under Zhou Chang's near persecution, the king of Joseon, who is now the king of Daxia Han, immediately gave Zhou Chang to him.

Zhou Chang took the support of the king of Joseon and came to the top of the north gate.

Seeing the honor guard of the king of Joseon, the Joseon soldiers immediately shouted long live. For a while, morale soared.

Zhou Chang looked over and said secretly: "The North Korean army still has some foundation. ”

Let the soldiers be well fed and clothed, and they may become a strong army, but if they are not well fed and clothed, it is even more impossible to become a strong army, especially in the era of cold weapons.

However, he immediately looked at the city, but saw a large area of black pressure under the city, and on the snow-white earth, countless people were like ants, flocking towards the city, and then several cannons fired in turn. Cannonballs hit the city.

Countless pieces of ice flew at the striking, and some of the cold ice cubes looked like sharp blades.

Everywhere they passed, blood flowers bloomed. There was a scream and a wail.

The Korean soldiers retreated one after another, not daring to take the lead, and let the large group of men and horses below approach the city wall.

Zhou Chang understood very well that he found two things, one thing, that is, the morale of the Korean soldiers was very problematic. One by one, they panicked and shrank their heads and hands. The second thing is that the soldiers below are treated well, but above the city, there are very few officers.

Zhou Chang had only one officer named Liu Chengye on duty along the way, but he was also a petty official, in charge of a section of the city wall, and there were only a few hundred people under him. Where are the rest of the officers? They all hid under the city.

The generals are like this, and the soldiers below naturally can't stand up.

Zhou Chang immediately called Liu Chengye over and said, "I order you to be the commander-in-chief today, control all the soldiers and horses on the city wall, but anyone who disobeys the order will be punished." ”

Liu Chengye was a little overwhelmed for a while.

It stands to reason that Zhou Chang did not have the authority to command the North Korean army.

But power has always been dynamic, and it doesn't say who it must belong to, since a large number of generals are hiding under the city, Zhou Chang took over. It also makes sense. It's just that Zhou Chang doesn't care about the North Koreans' perception of him, but Liu Chengye can't care.

His ancestors are also considered to be famous ministers, and his father also made military exploits in the Bingzi Rebellion, and personally killed the Eastern Prisoners. Later, he was taken captive to Shenyang by the Eastern Captives, and died an unknown death.

Zhou Chang said: "General Liu, Seoul is in danger today, people with lofty ideals should be the ones who should do it, but General Liu, who can stay in Hanyang City for a long time, once Hanyang City is broken, I will just die, but General Liu doesn't miss his wife and children?" ”

Liu Chengye's face changed, and he suddenly made up his mind.

As Zhou Chang said, Zhou Chang only has one bite in the city, but Liu Chengye is a family in the city. Even if it is for the sake of the family, you shouldn't worry too much, if it goes on like this, you will definitely not be able to stop the Qing army's attack. He said, "Obey your lordship's orders. ”

After Zhou Chang took over the city with Liuchengye, he immediately purged the people.

If there are generals at all levels, it will be difficult to do, but the senior generals have gone down to the city to avoid the artillery, and Zhou Chang is relied on by the king of Joseon, and the officers below can't tell whether the king's order is true or false, so they naturally obey their fate.

And Zhou Chang put the honor guard of the king of Korea on the north gate tower, and the Qing army could see it from afar, which was extremely eye-catching. The soldiers below all thought that the king of Joseon did not avoid artillery arrows, and suddenly their morale was greatly boosted, and the sound of the mountain shouting long live was like a landslide and a sea collapse.

The sonic boom is miles away.

Azig looked at it from a distance, and the horsewhip pointed. said: "This Li family child, there is still a bit of courage, but it is too underestimated, I am a Manchu soldier, and I ordered the march." ”

The rumbling cannon remembers that the cavalry is like driving a flock of sheep, driving some Korean prisoners to the city, and all those who run slowly are cleared

The army was shot. No matter how many Qing soldiers these captives died, they would not frown.

"Kill." The sound of shouting and cannon gathered, a kind of unique sound from a warship.

Zhou Chang was on top of the city tower, looking at Liu Chengye commanding soldiers and horses from a distance, and secretly said in his heart: "This Liu Chengye is still a general." ”

After all, Zhou Chang is young, and he can still learn the art of strategy and vertical and horizontal, but the way of leading troops to fight is not something that can be learned in a short time. can only rely on Liu Chengye. All he could do was sit at the head of the city and boost morale.

"Boom." A cannonball hit the city tower, tens of millions of force, shaking the entire city tower, and bursts of dust fell from nowhere, spilling Zhou Chang's face.

The people around Zhou Chang were shocked, and they persuaded Zhou Chang to avoid it.

But Zhou Chang did not move, and said: "If God blesses North Korea, the artillery is not close, if God does not bless North Korea, what is the difference between dying here and dying in the city?" ”

He sat still, but his thighs trembled.

He is not not afraid, the reason why he did this is for two reasons, the first reason is that he has pressed too much capital in this operation, he wants to be out of the woods, but he also knows that there is no better opportunity except for today.

He could not tolerate failure.

The second reason is that although he is not in the Privy Council, the circle of small officials in Nanjing City is all the same. He inquired with the people in the manufacturing bureau, such as the accuracy of this artillery, and knew that the accuracy of these cannons often depends on the destiny of heaven.

Many Western missionaries were introduced in the imperial court, and it seemed that they were compiling a cannon table, which seemed to make the quasi-head better, and the Qing court's progress in this regard was a little worse than that of the imperial court.

So the best way for a person to dodge the shells is to retreat, and if they can't, it doesn't really make much difference where they are.

Although Zhou Chang thought so, he was worried and secretly prayed in his heart: "If the Buddha, the Yuan Shi Tianzun, and the Jade Emperor, as long as you bless Xinnan to survive today's battle, Xinnan Zhou Chang and Zhou Peigong will definitely reshape the golden body for the three of them." ”

And the Korean soldiers saw that Zhou Chang was not moving, they all thought that it was the king of Joseon who was in charge, and their morale increased greatly, and under the command of Liu Chengye, they exerted the power of firearms, although they did not have cannons, but the firecrackers were enough, and countless firecrackers came out from under the city wall, and they fought down in rows.

Although from time to time many Korean soldiers were killed and wounded by artillery, the Qing army's artillery was too few. Just knocked out cracks in the city wall, and as soon as these cracks appeared, Liu Chengye immediately asked people to pour mud into them, but after an hour or two, after freezing, it was extremely hard.

Although after the beginning of spring, this wall will definitely not be able to hold up. But now it can be sustained. It was also because of this quick repair method that Seoul was kept immovable under the bombardment of artillery.