Moreover, almost all the deserters' original army was about to collapse at the touch of a button, and they didn't even see the face of the Qing soldiers, so the city lord ran away directly with people!

The city lords have all fled, and the remaining soldiers will not stay and wait for death!

And in order to escape the punishment of the imperial court, these escaped city lords and deserters all exaggerated the horror of the Qing soldiers, and even persuaded the armies and city lords of other cities to flee quickly.

As the saying goes, the law does not blame the public, as long as there are more people who flee and more cities are lost, it can prove the horror of the Qing soldiers!

It's not that they don't want to fight, it's that the Qing soldiers are too terrifying!

Unbelief? Just listen to the rumors outside!

……

Qingtian City is a small place, with a population of 22,000 people and a garrison of 800 people, all of whom are the cheapest pikemen!

The origin of the name of Qingtian City is no longer verifiable, but it is true that the officials of Qingtian City in the past hundred years have been relatively honest and fair, and they are dedicated to the public, such as the current city lord Xu Haoran, and then Li Wantu, the general of the Qingtian City garrison!

Of course, the integrity and fairness of officials cannot be a reason for the Qing army not to attack the city, let alone a magic weapon to protect the city!

Therefore, when Xu Haoran and Li Wantu received the Qing army's detention again, and even sent elite soldiers to loot Qilu, the first thing they thought of was not to fight, but to escape!

However, unlike other officials' practice of 'protecting their lives in advance', the two of them were thinking about how to move the 22,000 people in the city!

It's just that as soon as this idea appeared, it was directly rejected by the two, and there was no escape at all!

The Qing army is basically the cavalry of the Eight Banners, and its ability to move in the field is far from being comparable to that of the infantry, let alone the ordinary people who drag their families and mouths!

If they wanted the people to leave safely, or even escape the doom of being slaughtered, they needed to hold back the Qing soldiers for at least seven days, and for seven days, it was estimated that the eight hundred pikemen in Qingtian City would not be able to hold out for even an hour.

"Brother Li, please mobilize the people to leave, I will write to several other city lords for help now, if we can come to the garrison of four or five county towns and make up five thousand people, we can hold out for seven days!"

"Okay, my old Li listens to the city lord!"

Just as the two of them were deciding on their strategy, suddenly, there was a chaotic sound of footsteps outside:

"Report, city lord, something is wrong, the Qing soldiers are coming, and they are less than a day's journey from Qingtian City!"

The two people who heard the report couldn't help but glance at each other, and the secret said so quickly!

"City Lord, do you still need to mobilize the people to leave?"

Li Wantu asked with an ugly face!

Hearing Li Wantu's words, Xu Haoran couldn't help but be stunned, yes, do you still need to mobilize?

"Of course, however, this time I am going to mobilize, mobilize the young and strong to leave with children, as for those who are inseparable from the old and weak, just stay, someone has to stay and drag the Qing soldiers!"

Hearing Xu Haoran's words, Li Wantu couldn't help but pause, dragging the Qing soldiers?

What to drag the Qing soldiers?

As

It is impossible for Li Wantu, the general, not to know, this is to let the old and weak in the city use their lives to drag the Qing soldiers and buy time for the young and strong and the children to leave.

In other words, those who stay are already dead!

The Qing army broke the city and never sealed the sword, this kind of thing, almost everyone knows.

"City Lord, by all means, our eight hundred pikemen have not been killed in battle, how can we let the people die? And you'll also have the notoriety of forcing people to die! No, absolutely not, by the way, isn't there another county? Let's send someone for help quickly, there may be time! ”

Hearing Li Wantu's words, Xu Haoran showed a wry smile, how could he not know to ask for help from other counties?

However, since the Qing soldiers have already come in, and they are even only a day's journey away from Qingtian City, it is estimated that the other city lords who have received the information have already 'retreated' with their soldiers!

is also the city lord of Qilu, how could he not know what virtues his colleagues are?

If the Qing soldiers didn't come so quickly, he was sure to use the excuse of 'buying time for them to retreat' to let them hand over their military power, concentrate their superior forces, and fight with the Qing soldiers, but it was already too late, and it was estimated that the city lords and garrisons of several surrounding counties had already left!

Sure enough, a soldier ran in, and the soldier didn't say anything, just brought a few letters!

When he opened the letter, Xu Haoran showed endless pathos on his face!

Sure enough, judging by the above time, these people had already left with the soldiers three days ago, of course, they would definitely not write so in the letter, and the content in their hearts was that they were responsible for the lives of the soldiers, and they wanted to concentrate all the superior forces in the rear, and prevent the Qing soldiers from attacking the capital in a dangerous place!

The high-sounding reasons can't hide the fact that they sent tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people in the city to the sabers of the Qing soldiers!

"We're alone! The garrisons of all the surrounding counties have already left, let's go, mobilize the old and weak in the city to stay and defend the city with us, and let all the young and strong and children leave as soon as possible! ”

After speaking, Xu Haoran sighed again:

"Hopefully it's still too late!"

……

"Elder Liu, I heard from the wanderers, ten miles ahead is Qingtian City, which is a very small county seat, and the five thousand vanguard troops of the Qing army are besieging Qingtian City, but most of the young men and children in the city have escaped, but ......"

Lin Pingzhi, as a pioneer officer, appeared in front of Liu Jiangtao and said hesitantly!

"But what?"

Liu Jiangtao asked with a frown!

Along the way, many of Liu Jiangtao's so-called city lords fled backwards in embarrassment under the protection of the army!

The Qing soldiers have not yet come, and these people don't think about how to resist, but they think about how to protect themselves.

Of course, everyone is afraid of death and is unwilling to face the butcher's knife of the Qing soldiers, but as an official, benefiting one party and protecting a place, since they are the city lord and as a general, they have to fulfill the responsibilities of an official!

Otherwise, what use do you want them?

Do you bully the people, and plunder the people's fat and ointment?

"But according to Qingtian City's departed Qing Zhuang, at this time, Qingtian City was still fighting, and their city lord Xu Haoran and general Li Wantu mobilized five thousand old and weak to assist them in defending Qingtian City!"

"What? These Ming bastard officials, these people who sell their fame and reputation, for the sake of their own reputation, actually dragged 5,000 people to die with him, no, they still dragged 5,000 ineffective old and weak people to die together, hmph, don't let my old Ren see him, otherwise I will ......"

"No, it's the best way! The gecko broke its tail and exchanged the lives of 5,000 old and weak and 800 soldiers for the departure of young men and children, this is a ruthless person, but it is also a rare talent! These two people can't die! ”

Saying that, Liu Jiangtao directly scolded me and said:

"Elder Ren, I'll take some of the masters to Qingtian City first, and you take the rest of the people to march in a hurry to meet us as soon as possible!"

After speaking, Liu Jiangtao looked at Master Fangzheng and said:

"Master Fangzheng, please lead your disciples and organize the homeless people to leave as soon as possible! At the same time, make sure that the road to Qingtian City will not be blocked by the homeless, and remember, whether it is the homeless or the officials, you must get out of the way! ”

As he spoke, Liu Jiangtao said loudly to the army:

"Wudang Hall, Huashan Hall, march with me in a hurry, and target Qingtian City ten miles away!"

……

On Qingtian City, there were only 300 of the 800 pikemen left, and all of them were wounded, and the 5,000 old and weak who were left to help defend the city were only 2,000!

Add it up, and there are only two thousand two hundred gasps left in the city!

Looking at the Qing soldiers who retreated like a tide, Xu Haoran's face leaked a sad look!

Although they repelled the first wave of attacks by the Qing soldiers, this was only the first wave of tentative attacks, and the 5,000 vanguard troops of the Qing soldiers only reached 2,000 people!

And of these two thousand people, only less than five hundred were lost!

Annihilated five hundred Qing soldiers, if he changed the place and the scene, he would definitely be very proud, after all, since the Qing soldiers plundered Qilu, there has not been a city that can leave five hundred Qing soldiers!

However, they did it, with only 800 pikemen and 5,000 untrained old and weak.

However, in this situation, he was not happy at all, although the Qing army lost 500, but there were still 4,500 men and horses, and he believed that as long as the other party was not a fool, he would soon launch a second wave of siege.

When the time comes, with only the 2,200 old, weak, sick and disabled people in the city, I am afraid that they will not be able to hold on to the kung fu of half a pillar of incense!

Originally, he thought that with the 5,500 men and horses in the city, no matter what he said, he could buy two days for the people who left, and as long as the army sent by the imperial court could arrive in time, the people who left would still have the possibility of survival!

However, he never expected that the combat effectiveness of the Qing soldiers would be so strong, even if these dismounted cavalry chose the siege warfare that they were not good at, they would not be able to resist it.

"Is the sky going to kill me?"

Xu Haoran stumbled a step and almost fell to the ground, but he was held by Li Wantu, looking at the knife wound in Xu Haoran's chest, Li Wantu wanted Lang Zhong to come over to treat Xu Haoran's injuries, but just now, Lang Zhong, the only man in his fifties left in the army, jumped off the city wall with the Qing soldiers who rushed to the city wall in the case of two stabs in his body.

"City Lord, are we going to die?"

Li Wantu smiled and said nonchalantly!

"Of course, we're going to die today! Hahaha, but, even if we die, we'll have to pull a few Tartar soldiers as backs! ”

"Good! That's what the big husband does! ”

……

While the two were talking, the second wave of the Qing siege began, this time with 3,000 men and horses, attacking the city at the same time......

Looking at the Qing soldiers who rushed up like locusts, Xu Haoran glanced at the old, weak, sick and disabled around him, and shouted:

"Kill!"

When he was the first to fight with the Qing soldiers who rushed up, although he successfully forced the Qing soldiers who rushed up in the first place to retreat, but the second and third Qing soldiers also rushed up......

After the first wave of defenses, the hot oil and rolling wood in the city have been depleted, and they can only choose the most brutal hand-to-hand combat!

No, this is not hand-to-hand combat, this massacre, the massacre of Hongguoguo, the unilateral slaughter of the Qing soldiers......

(End of chapter)