In the afternoon of April 18 in the first year of Ming Hongguang (AD 1645), on a hillside in the northwest of Yangzhou City, the Prince of Yu of the Qing Dynasty Aixin Jueluo. Duoduo rode a black steed on the top of the slope, red clothes and swords, full of hats and soap boots, and holding a horse whip wrapped with gold thread, looking at the tall and sturdy city of Yangzhou from afar.

Prince Duoduo, who had just turned thirty-one, looked complacent.

In the second year of Shunzhi (1645 AD), after the Qing army defeated the Great Shun army and occupied the entire territory of Shaanxi, the regent Dolgon immediately began to deploy the main force to the south, preparing to eliminate the Hongguang court of the Southern Ming Dynasty. The Qing army marched in unison on three fronts. Duoduo Department from Shaanxi out of Tongguan, through Luoyang east to Shangqiu, and then to the south straight to Sizhou, Yangzhou, attack Nanjing, ready to succeed after the division of troops to capture Taiping Fu (now Dangtu), Wuhu, its main opponent is Gao Jie (when Gao Jie has been killed by Xu Dingguo) remnants, Liu Liangzuo, Huang Degong Ming army, this is the middle road. Prince Ying's Azig army followed Li Zicheng's Dashun army from Shangluo, Shaanxi, Dengzhou, Henan, into Xiangyang, Jingzhou, Wuchang, Hubei, until Jiujiang, Jiangxi, in addition to defeating the Dashun army led by Li Zicheng, taking advantage of the situation to solve the Ming army of Zuoliangyu, preparing to join forces with Duoduo in present-day Anhui Province, this is the west road. Another Qing army was led by Zhun Ta, who was originally stationed in Shandong, Gushan Ezhen (the actual commander of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, later named Dutong in Han), south to Xuzhou, along the canal by land and water, to collect Suqian, Huai'an, Xinghua, Tongzhou (now Nantong), Rugao and the coastal area north of the Yangtze River.

On 14 February, Duoduo was ordered to lead a large army from the northwest back to the east, and reached Henan. On the ninth day of the first month of March, the army went out of the Tiger Prison Pass, and divided the troops to return to Germany by Longmen and Nanyang three roads. After the capture of Guide, he led the Eight Banners Army to sweep through most of Henan, and all the prefectures and counties in Henan surrendered. On the battlefield in Henan, the army's successes were frequently reported. The court of the Great Qing Dynasty learned that the Central Plains had been decided, and in order to reward the great merits, they gave them beaded swords and gold-plated shoelaces as a reward.

At the thought of this, a smug smile appeared on Duoduo's face. Staring at the Ming soldiers on the city wall of Yangzhou, Duoduo sank his face again, thinking that he had written to Shi Kefa in the city three times, asking him to surrender and sacrifice the city, but he was repeatedly sternly refused. Duoduo raised the horsewhip in his hand and said to Tulai, who was following behind him on the left: "Shi Xianzhi and Gao Yinwen don't know what to do, they refuse to surrender, and after breaking the city, Yun'er will not seal the knife for three days, so that the remnants of the Ming army and people will be all in the future!" ”

"The minions thank the prince for his great grace for the soldiers! The minions passed on the will of the prince, so that the soldiers could try their best to break the city as soon as possible. When the bearded Turai heard this, he knew what it meant to "not seal the knife for three days," and bowed down on his horse and said.

Duoduo snorted, turned around and asked, "Is there any news from Guazhou?" "Not yet, the slave is estimated to be only in the past two days, Lord Wang, you just wait for the good news from Yin Tu." Turai replied. While besieging Yangzhou City, Duoduo sent Bai Yintu with 8,000 men and horses to capture Guazhou as a stronghold for crossing the river, and after relieving his worries about Yangzhou, he immediately returned to capture Nanjing, the capital of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Duoduo was not in a hurry to capture Yangzhou City, in his opinion, Yangzhou City was already in his pocket. After arriving at the city of Yangzhou on April 13, Duoduo only ordered Li Yuchun, who was newly attached to Sizhou, to make a tentative attack once or twice before stopping. He has been waiting for the Han army to be red flag of Gongshun Wang Kong Youde and Huaishun Wang Geng Zhongming. Thinking of the titles of King Gongshun and King Huaishun, Duoduo pursed the corners of his lips, revealing a trace of disdain, but the red-clothed cannons carried by the Han army banner where these two kings were located were sharp weapons for siege.

The red-coated cannon is extremely cumbersome, the barrel is nine feet long, the weight reaches more than 3,000 catties, and it needs six horses and more than 20 soldiers to pull it when marching, so it is not practical in the field, and most of the Ming troops were placed on the city wall to defend the city in the past. The solid shells of this cannon weigh 10 to 15 catties, and the firing range is extremely long, reaching up to three or four miles at most, and the effective firing range is also one and a half miles.

Duoduo did not trust the combat effectiveness of the newly attached Han army, and did not want the Manchu Eight Banners to attack the city, the city wall of Yangzhou was tall and strong, Shi Kefa made preparations for defending the city for many days in the city, and the resistance was very fierce, and the price paid for the forced siege of the city would not be less.

Although the Manchu children were brave and invincible, their numbers were small. Duoduo went south with more than 10,000 Qing sons and daughters after all the way to the outside of Yangzhou, there are only three or four thousand people left, the day before yesterday Bai Yin Tu captured Guazhou and took away 800 people, but also to suppress the nearly 100,000 Han troops who surrendered in recent days, Duoduo had to be careful.

Duoduo looked at the row of hills less than half a mile in front of him, and Kong Youde, the king of Gongshun, and Geng Zhongming, the king of Huaishun, who had arrived yesterday, led people to dig up the dusty sky, and it was the position of the red-clothed cannon that was arranged. It is said to be a small mountain bag, I heard that it is the ancestral tomb of the Li eunuch family in Jiangyin, who is this Li eunuch, but Duoduo does not know, but looking at the scale of this ancestral tomb, his family must not be simple.

The Great Qing Dynasty Military Department Shangshu Aixin Jueluo. Han Dai, as the commander-in-chief of the front line of the attack on Yangzhou, was riding a tall jujube red horse towards Duoduo at this moment. The position of the red-clothed artillery is about to be built, and the 8,000 Han troops and 600 Manchu Qing white-armored cavalry who are ready to attack the city are all in place, ready to attack the city.

"Let's go, let's see." Hearing Han Dai's instructions, Duoduo led more than a hundred personal guards to the position of the red-clothed cannon, and he wanted to see the siege effect of the red-clothed cannon with his own eyes.

"Welcome to Lord Yu!" Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming saw Duoduo bringing people over, and ran over to ask for a thousand people.

"How's this redcoat cannon ready?" Duoduo did not dismount, and raised his horsewhip on the horse and asked, although these two people were named princes by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but in Duoduo's heart, they were not even slaves.

"If you go back to Lord Yu, that's good." Kong Youde replied first. At this time, Kong Youde was just in his early forties, with a medium build, a bright light armor, and his originally extremely capable body looked a little trivial because he bent over. Kong Youde from Chongzhen six years to the Qing Dynasty, has repeatedly made military exploits, Chongzhen nine years was crowned as the king of Gongshun, although this title is not very good, but it is also the prince is not. Since following Prince Yu's southern expedition, the Qing army has been overwhelmed along the way, but there is no chance to attack the fortified city, and Kong Youde's artillery team has not yet made great contributions, and he is very unwilling in his heart. The city wall of Yangzhou is strong, and Prince Yu wants to use a red-coated cannon to break the city, Kong Youde has already been eager to try, and he is eager to make meritorious contributions.

"Let's try it first!" Dodor said.