For Ruichang and Laicun, the bad news can be said to be one after another, the eight city gates of Hangzhou, the troops of the Hong Army have appeared one after another - now whether to solve Hu Xueyan or not is no longer the focus of the problem.

You must know that even the city gate has been lost, so now it is not a question of guarding Hangzhou City, but a question of how to guard the city, as soon as I thought of this, Ruichang said loudly: "No matter what, this is our full country, everyone will work harder, all go to the city to defend!" ”

He didn't know that Hangzhou City had now avoided the biggest military disaster since the late Song Dynasty.

Li Xiucheng entered the city of Hangzhou twice, the first time was of course a light army, so it would not cause a major military disaster, and the second siege of the city was the largest military disaster in the history of Hangzhou City, which was besieged for more than 40 days before and after, until the city ran out of food, the city was broken, and the city continued to hold on for several days before being breached.

In this siege battle, it is claimed that at least tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people died, as the so-called "Ci does not take charge of the army", this is the reason, and even the Qing historical records also record that Li Xiucheng did not intend to cause such a big damage, after Hangzhou broke the city, he immediately ordered the relief of the people of Hangzhou, but his mercy could not save the lives that had been lost.

In the subsequent tug-of-war between the Taiping army and the Qing army in Zhejiang, more people died, and Hangzhou was such a paradise on earth, so it took decades to recover from this military disaster.

And now the officers and soldiers of the Panshi Brigade are looking at this provincial city with curious eyes, and the gentry who are leading in front are urging them at an accelerated pace: "Hurry up, hurry up, otherwise He Guiqing will run away!" ”

This city can be said to be one of the most livable cities in China, so prosperous that the cities of Ningbo and Shaoxing that have been conquered in the past cannot be compared with him, as the so-called "I would like to live in Hangzhou for the rest of my life".

The whole battle went on in an uneventful manner, and even a few shots had not been officially fired, and the Green Battalion and the Inspection Division stationed in the city had already surrendered their weapons to the Rainbow Army, or fled in all directions.

They don't have the courage to fight, they are all local soldiers in Hangzhou, naturally they know what kind of role He Guiqing is, and they also know that the Rainbow Army will not embarrass them, so some of the Green Battalion soldiers simply help the officers and soldiers of the Rainbow Army to maintain order on the streets.

In the moment before the Hong Army was stationed, there was indeed some chaos, and individual hooligans robbed and even did robbery in the streets and alleys, but Hu Xueyan's role was brought into play, and he quickly cooperated with the Hong Army to suppress such a riot.

By the time it got dark, most of the city of Hangzhou was already under the control of the Nanxi Brigade, and the whole city of Hangzhou was no longer part of the Qing army, except for Mancheng, and some cavalry had crossed the city and marched further north.

Liu Chang entered Hangzhou City the next morning, he only took a few horse teams of Zhou Xiuying and went directly into the city, not long after entering the city gate, Sun Huzi had already come over to greet Liu Chang: "Check, except for the whole city, it has been taken!" ”

"Full of cities?" Liu Chang hesitated: "Tell the people in the city that they are free to come and go, and let them make a choice early!" ”

Li Xiucheng also used Tzu Chi to the Mancheng of Hangzhou back then, but was rejected by the Manchu Eight Banners inside, and finally broke through the Mancheng by force, and now he has no place to defeat Li Xiucheng?

Liu Chang had no confidence, but he knew that Ci was not in charge of the army, and if he couldn't take it by peaceful means, it could only be solved by force.

"This is a letter from Liu Jiehu!"

There was already a sound of despair in the city, and even the crying stopped, and everyone didn't even know what they should care about, there were too many nostalgic things!

"Read?" Ruichang, as the general of Hangzhou, still has his own responsibilities: "Anyway, there won't be any good words!" ”…,

The deputy capital Tong Laicun picked up the letter, glanced at it and said: "Liu Jiehu said, don't kill women, old and weak, come and go freely, if you are willing to go, please quit the city today, the Hongjun can send a toll to ensure safety!" ”

Ruichang smiled bitterly: "Good intentions, but ...... That's tens of thousands of lives! Do you remember Jiang Ning? ”

But all the Manchurians, how can they not remember Jiangning, Jiangning garrisoned nearly 5,000 people in the Eight Banners, and almost all of them were wiped out when the Taiping Army attacked Nanjing, according to the preliminary statistics after the war, among the 30,000 bannermen in Jiangning, only 600 people survived.

This is an unprecedented disaster, and when they think of the word Jiangning, everyone didn't dare to say anything, but just cried silently.

This is the country of the Manchurians, and they must guard the country.

Ruichang glanced at the deputy capital to save it: "What do you think?" ”

Lai Cun only said: "I am half a native of Hangzhou, and even the coffin is prepared in Hangzhou, so I died here, but there are more than 10,000 people in Hangzhou, and I am entrusted with the general!" ”

Ruichang had never felt that he would be under such pressure, and with the lives of more than 10,000 people on his shoulders, he asked, "What do you think?" ”

Without any thoughts, the Manchurians knelt down in groups after groups, although this was their country, but their tears could not bear it.

At that time, the white-armored soldiers of the Eight Banners had lost their original good fighting and courage, they were just a group of real Hangzhou natives, born in Hangzhou, grew up in Hangzhou, and died in Hangzhou, which was originally their fate.

They are not fighting to defend this empire, but to defend their homeland!

After two hundred years, they are no longer much different from the indigenous inhabitants of Hangzhou, except for the label of Manchurians, and Lingyin, Broken Bridge, and Santan ・・・・・・ have become an indispensable part of their lives.

In fact, even the indigenous inhabitants of Hangzhou have accepted them, not only as occupiers, but also as their own neighbors

Seeing so many Manchus kneeling on the ground, Ruichang also cried: "This is our Manchurian country, which should have been guarded by Manchurians, but our Manchurians may not be able to guard this country, I won't say anything else, just say a word of heart-wrenching, this Qing Dynasty encountered this willow household, and it was not possible to survive, but we Manchu people have to keep seeds under the three banners and five flags!" ”

This sentence was very direct, and Ruichang continued: "I heard that Liu Jiehu is a man of his word, and he is willing to let you leave safely, so he will definitely be able to let you leave safely, but I am afraid that you have nowhere to go!" ”

Everyone's heads knelt lower, and Ruichang was right.

They are the natives of Hangzhou, their home is here, where can they go? They were born in Hangzhou, grew up in Hangzhou, and have been in Hangzhou all their lives, where can they go?

Therefore, Ruichang said: "It's a good man, stand up and follow me to rush the red thief's gunline!" ”

The deputy commander of the capital Changcun cried: "General, why are you so troubled!" ”

"Why bother, but it's always our full country, we can't let the Han people guard it, I don't ask for goodbye, I just ask three or five good men to walk with me!"

Ruichang said what he was talking from his heart, but he didn't expect that hundreds of children with eight banners stood up all of a sudden, silently following Ruichang's back, they knew that Ruichang was begging for death, and they were willing to follow Ruichang.

In this time and space, the Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners have been rotten, especially the troops like the Hangzhou Garrison Eight Banners, which can no longer be described as erosive, he is a group of ordinary Hangzhou natives, and the privileges given at the beginning of the country have become a burden for them to enjoy the life in Hangzhou. …,

They can sing big operas, they can listen to stories, they can make small deals, they can raise fish and birds, but they don't fight, but when their own homes are threatened, they are real good men, and they dare to stand up and stand up in the face of the scorching bullets and cold bayonets of the rainbow army.

Only if they die with this Hangzhou general, can the city of Hangzhou have a decent ending, and the men, women, and children in it will always survive, some will stay in Hangzhou, some will leave Hangzhou, and some will live worse than die - but no matter what hardships they go through, life will always go on.

That's more than 10,000 lives! Unlike the fight in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Ruichang felt that this Liu Jiehu was an opponent worthy of negotiation, at least this vicious man would show mercy.

It's just that the Manchurians don't guard the Manchurians, can the Qing Dynasty still be saved?

He had such an exclamation.

The remnant sun is like blood, and the vicinity of the city is already full of troops of the Rainbow Army, and they have even transferred a lot of artillery, ready to bombard the city at any time, and it is between such defense lines that there are still some Hangzhou natives who are sending condolences and gifts to their Manchu neighbors in one way or another.

But everyone knows that this is the last warmth, and when the new sun rises, the rainbow army will launch a general attack on the city, and then this exquisite city within a city will be reduced to ruins.

"There is no response in the city!"

Liu Chang looked at the city gate: "Tomorrow morning, launch a general attack!" Pay attention to the control of casualties! ”

He didn't mention who would control the casualties, but everyone knew that the city was not only home to the Eight Banners, but also their homeland, where they and their families had lived for two hundred years, and in this case, only jade burning.

You must know that during the entire Opium War, the place where the British army suffered the greatest casualties was in Zhenjiang, where the garrison Eight Banners fought to the last moment to defend their homeland, and Liu Chang also clearly understood that when the sun rises tomorrow, I am afraid it will be the last moment of this city within a city.

But under the afterglow of the sunset, the gates of the city suddenly opened, and hundreds of garrison eight banners wearing ancient cotton armor had come out, and the Hangzhou general Ruichang, who took the lead, had already thrown his braids casually: "It's a good man, follow me to die!" ”