"Inform the artillery to stop firing and the whole army to enter the city!"

The smoke of gunpowder dispersed, and looking at the several collapsed city walls in front of him, Han Liang directly ordered.

At this moment, the city wall on the east side of Kyoto Castle is already a ruined wall, and the Fuso soldiers who can still move on it have long been transferred to the city, leaving only some severed limbs and stumps, and of course, mottled bloodstains.

After receiving the order, the soldier in front did not say a word, and directly took out the grenade on his waist and rushed forward.

No matter whether there was anyone in front of them, as soon as they approached the city wall, the soldiers opened the fuse and threw grenades into the city.

When no sound could be heard, the soldiers rushed in again.

Originally, there were indeed some Fusang soldiers ambushed under the city wall, but when they saw the grenade exploding beside them, they hesitated to ambush the Zhou army, and rushed to the city one by one, hoping that the houses and courtyards in the city could block the Zhou army's grenades.

But the bad thing is that the Zhou army that rushed into the city did not even make contact with the Fusang soldiers, and they shot freely.

As long as there was something moving in front of him, whether it was Fusang soldiers or civilians, or livestock or birds, the Zhou army shot without hesitation.

The Fusang soldiers, who planned to inflict casualties on the Zhou army through street fighting, saw this, and their faces were full of helplessness and despair.

Under the powerful firepower of the Zhou army, they could only retreat one after another, and one street and alley fell into the hands of the Zhou army.

And at this moment, the shogunate's palace, Tokugawa Yasuaki had just learned the news that the Zhou army had captured the city wall.

Tokugawa Yasuaki did not feel the slightest surprise at this, because all this was expected by him.

It's just that what Tokugawa Yasuaki didn't expect was that the Zhou army would capture the eastern city wall so quickly.

In Tokugawa Yasuaki's original plan, it would take two or three hours for the Zhou army to enter the city at the earliest, so Emperor Meibei had already fled with Crown Prince Matsuhito and Empress Hanako and other members of the imperial family.

Such a powerful attack by the Zhou army did disrupt some of Tokugawa Yasuaki's deployments.

Before he had time to think about it, Tokugawa Yasuaki hurriedly asked his cronies, "Are the emperor and the crown prince out of the city now?" ”

The cronies in charge of the palace replied, "When the subordinates were handed down, the emperor and the crown prince had just left the palace and were now fleeing to the west of the castle. ”

"That's good! That's it! Yasuaki Tokugawa breathed a sigh of relief.

However, just in case, Tokugawa Yasuaki instructed: "You immediately take the old man's token to the west of the city and transfer all the defenders there." ”

"Are they all transferred?" The cronie asked.

"Of course, now that the attack of the Zhou army is so strong, our army is losing and retreating, why do you stay there if you don't transfer them all?"

Having said that, but what kind of calculations Tokugawa Yasuaki had in his heart, this cronie also knew it.

When the news of the Zhou army's invasion of the city spread, Emperor Mingbei's fear of fleeing for his life became even more urgent.

In addition, if all the troops to the west of the castle are transferred, won't it be just right for Emperor Meibei and Crown Prince Matsuhito to escape?

"Also, inform me and order the soldiers not to resist with all their might, just stop the offensive of the Zhou army a little. If you really can't resist, you will directly order the soldiers to surrender to the Zhou army! ”

The 50,000 troops in the city were Tokugawa Yasuaki's henchmen, and he naturally didn't want these 50,000 troops to be sacrificed in vain.

To the west of the castle, Emperor Meibei was already in chaos when he heard that the Zhou army had captured the gate of the eastern castle, and now he was only thinking about how to escape from Kyoto City.

Because the direction of the Zhou army's attack was to the east of the city, Tokugawa Yasuaki did not deploy many troops in the west of the city.

But there are not many of them, but there are 5,000 people.

With such a group of people guarding the city gate, unless Mingbei can fly, he won't be able to escape Kyoto City at all.

But fortunately, just when Mingbei was panicking, the 5,000 troops stationed at the west gate suddenly gathered and ran towards the east of the city.

"What happened? Why did all these soldiers run in the direction of the east of the city? Emperor Meibei was puzzled.

"I think it's Tokugawa Yasumi, that old horseman wants to fight with Zhou Jun!" Although Emperor Mingbei is useless, Crown Prince Matsuhito's brain is very clever, and after thinking about it, he understands the reason for the transfer of the 5,000 army.

"Your Majesty, isn't it a good thing for us that all these troops have been transferred?" Queen Hanako said.

"yes, why didn't I think of that? Once these 5,000 troops are evacuated, won't we be able to escape from the city smoothly? Emperor Mingbei said in surprise.

……

"Quick! Let's go! Seeing that all the soldiers stationed at the West Gate had left, Emperor Mingbei was overjoyed and hurriedly urged his wife and children to go out of the city together.

But Crown Prince Matsuhito felt faintly uneasy, as if he was about to lose something very important as soon as he left Kyoto City.

I'm waiting to persuade Emperor Mingbei, but where can I still see the shadow of Emperor Mingbei around?

When I looked up, I saw that Emperor Meibei had already run out of the city gate first, and his steps were fast, as if there was a wild beast chasing after him.

Shaking his head helplessly, Crown Prince Matsuhito could only chase after him......

"General, the soldiers below are about to be overwhelmed!" In the shogunate's palace, a general hurried over to report the news, "I'm afraid that it won't take half an hour, and the Zhou army will be killed here, just in case, please move the general to a safe place." ”

"No!" Yasuaki Tokugawa shook his head, rejecting the general's kindness. After all, Tokugawa Yasuaki has also been on the battlefield, and he is also a person who has fought all the way, how can he be so easy to hold his breath?

"The Emperor, have they ever left Kyoto?" Calling his cronies, Tokugawa asked.

"I'm afraid it's going to be soon!" The men sent by his cronies to spy on Emperor Mingbei had not yet returned to report, and the cronies did not know the specific situation, so they gave an ambiguous word.

"You ......" Tokugawa Yasuaki was about to scold his cronies when he saw this, but thinking of the current situation, if it was confirmed that Emperor Meibei had fled Kyoto City, the cronie would definitely report to him as soon as he got the news, so he suppressed the anger in his heart.

At the same time, Tokugawa Yasuaki also understands that the more critical moments like this, the more he must calm down.

But the gunshots that came from time to time in his ears showed that the Zhou army was getting closer and closer to the shogunate's palace. If you don't retreat to a safe place now, I'm afraid that you will most likely become a prisoner of the Zhou army for a while.

Fortunately, at this time, a samurai hurriedly broke into the shogunate's palace and reported to Tokugawa Yasuaki the news that he urgently needed: Emperor Akibe and Crown Prince Matsuhito, as well as Empress Hanako and other members of the imperial family had all left the castle gate.

Tokugawa Yasuaki let out a sigh of relief and ordered directly: "Notify me and order all the soldiers to surrender to the Great Zhou Heavenly Army!" ”