The street fighting in the city did not last long, Meng Qiaofang overestimated the loyalty of his subordinates, and when the two main streets were covered with the black and oppressive figures of the Ming army, the resistance of the Qing army basically stopped.

In addition to the city near the governor's yamen and the northeast corner of the city, the entire city of Xi'an soon fell into the hands of the Ming army, and the residents were frightened by the battle of the war to close the door of the house, and they did not dare to speak out at home, and some people also picked up scissors and kitchen knives, and seized the time to cut the braids of themselves and their families, lest the Ming army settle accounts after the autumn.

After all, the Qing court did not keep braids, all the people kept rat tail braids, shaved their heads of yin and yang, and the Ming Dynasty came back, and I heard that the people with braids cut off their heads, and they had to hurry up and go to the braids.

Meng Qiaofang's pro-military battalion was loyal, protecting Meng Qiaofang's hundreds of fully loaded cars while resisting, while retreating towards the east gate, these people were all old men brought by Meng Qiaofang from Liaodong, and they had a few strokes under their hands, they had killed people and seen blood, and they were like mad dogs. It was inconvenient to spread out the formation on the street, and Wang Yongqiang's Ming army could not give full play to the numerical advantage for a while, so Meng Qiaofang was allowed to go out of the north gate safely.

Running out of the North Gate City Gate, Meng Qiaofang breathed a sigh of relief, looked back at Xi'an City where the beacons were everywhere, secretly frightened, and was glad that he finally acted quickly, snatched out the family property, and picked up a life.

When Hahamu died in battle, Meng Qiaofang saw it from afar, and he immediately turned around and ran back to the governor's mansion, loaded the soft household clothes that had been packed in advance, loaded the car, and ran away.

The convoy ran wildly out of the city, and before it had gone a few steps, it ran into a group of people.

This group of people fled in a hurry, and looking at their uniforms, it turned out to be Wu Sangui's Liaodong Army.

Behind these people, the cavalry of the brigade was rolling and pursuing, the hooves of the Mongolian horses rumbled, the earth trembled, and the knights' clothes and armor were shining, and the long knife and halberd in their hands were shining with cold light, and they swept in the dust, and the banner they were playing was actually the words of the Ming Army.

Meng Qiaofang's soul was scattered, and he grabbed a fleeing Liaodong army and asked urgently: "Whose subordinates are you?" Where is the Ming army chasing? ”

The sergeant was necked by several soldiers from the pro-military battalion with steel knives, and if he didn't answer, his head fell to the ground, although he was terrified, he had to answer patiently: "We are General Xia's subordinates, when the city was broken, General Xia took us to withdraw from the north gate, intending to escape from the east gate, but less than five miles out of the city, we encountered an ambush by the cavalry of the Ming army, and killed us for a while, and we were all killed!" ”

An ambush of the cavalry of the Ming army?

Meng Qiaofang's vest was cold, and the cold sweat suddenly came out as soon as he "brushed", staring at the front with wide eyes, the smoke and dust in the sky were getting closer and closer, and the long knife in the hand of the Ming cavalry was clearly visible.

The sergeant saw that Meng Qiaofang didn't ask, and was about to flee with his feet, but was caught back by Meng Qiaofang and forced to ask, "Where is General Xia?" But died in battle? ”

The sergeant looked at the pursuers in a hurry, and rolled his eyes: "No, no, the king of Pingxi has reinforcements to pick up General Xia and take him away." ”

Meng Qiaofang's eyes lit up immediately, and the whole person stood up on the horse's back with a "rub", and hurriedly asked, "Really?" Where are the soldiers and horses of the king of Pingxi now? ”

"Gone." The soldier replied.

"Gone?" Meng Qiaofang was incredible, her face that had just gotten up dimmed, and her heart felt as heavy as if she was being oppressed by a thousand catties of boulders.

"King Pingxi's army just picked up General Xia, and did not engage the Ming army, and the Ming army did not catch up, but just chased and killed us stragglers." The sergeant saw that the Ming army was getting closer and closer, and his eyes became more and more frightened, and he hurriedly shouted: "My lord, you should run away quickly, it will be too late!" ”

Meng Qiaofang was like falling into an ice cave, the whole person was stunned, and the sergeant ran away, and disappeared without a trace in a moment.

"My lord, what are we going to do?" The generals of the pro-military battalion were guarding Meng Qiaofang's side, although these people were not afraid of death, but when death came, fear and fear were instinctive physiological reactions, and the shock of the Ming cavalry's devastating group charge was extraordinary, and ordinary people had already fled in terror.

Meng Qiaofang laughed miserably, shook his head gently, took off the iron helmet he was wearing on his head, threw it away, and then dismounted to untie his knife, and said to the people around him: "If you are willing to escape, let's go, if you don't want to escape, surrender with me, there is no second way." ”

……

When night fell, the war finally came to an end.

The huge walls of Xi'an City fell into the hands of the Ming army, the remnants of the Qing army in the city were wiped out, the air was filled with a mixture of blood and gunsmoke, corpses everywhere, blood flowed all over the ground, the wounded and undead were groaning, the smoke rose from the burning buildings, and the cruelty of war was naked exposed to the moonlight.

Among them, the northeast corner is the most conspicuous, there is a tall inner city here, the city wall is as high as five zhang, the circumference is five miles, the arrow tower and the horse face are all complete, it is the city in the city built after Meng Qiaofang led Shaanxi, the people living in it are all Jurchens, and the Han people and other nationalities are not allowed to enter.

Now a large part of the inner city wall has been blown down, as if it has been kicked by a giant, the high wall has become a ruin, the corpses are scattered above and below the city, and the stumps and broken arms are everywhere, and its density is much higher than that of the outer city, which shows how cruel the fighting here is.

Walking down the stone streets, every house on both sides of the cross-shaped street burns, the smell of burnt meat and the choking smell of smoke everywhere, and the flying ash rises into the sky and flies everywhere in the night sky like fireflies.

Wang Huan stood solemnly outside the inner city, looking at the fire in the sky, and was fixed, letting the high temperature of the fire burn his body, but he didn't move.

Wang Yongqiang had already removed his armor, and his left arm was slashed, and the bones were deeply visible, and Lang Zhong wrapped it in a bandage and hung it around his neck.

"Master Hou, there are three hundred and twenty-three households in the city, and none of them escaped, all of them were slaughtered." Wang Yongqiang reported respectfully, the blood stains on his face had not yet been wiped off, making him look a little hideous: "Fifty-nine Tartar officials from the chief Angbang Zhangjing Hahamu are all beheaded, and the heads are properly treated with lime, waiting for the Hou Ye to fall." ”

"Three hundred and twenty-three? Do you have children? Wang Huan didn't look back, just asked.

"Yes, all killed." Wang Yongqiang replied, his face unchanged, as if he was saying a very normal thing: "No matter old or young, whether male or female, there is no one left alive."

In troubled times, killing and being killed, all in the backhand, there is no right or wrong, only victory and defeat.

Wang Huan closed his eyes and looked up to the sky, the muscles on his face twitched a little, as if he was thinking about something unpleasant.

He thought of Yangzhou, the killing scenes in that bustling city, the unknown stone hill on Wuchang Road, and the eyes of the fireworker Hu Dahai who fell off the cliff after being cut in half.

Vividly, as in front of you.

Wang Huan felt a tingling sensation in the corner of his eyes, which made him blink hard, and a crystal teardrop slowly flowed out.

(End of chapter)