"Fire cover, cross the river! Chase!"
Li Kai made a prompt decision and commanded 2,500 soldiers to cross the river from the stone bridge to pursue the Qing army.
The residential area on the south bank of the Liu River was even denser. After the Qing army had been defeated and fled, they had lost the will to resist. Many people saw that the Ming army had already caught up and did not hesitate to throw down their weapons and kneel down to surrender.
Run? Can it outrun bullets?
The Han soldiers from the Green Camp were not stupid. They saw with their own eyes that the Ming army fired from a few hundred meters away, and the bullets could accurately kill them.
Since they couldn't escape, they might as well surrender. After all, they were all Han Chinese. They wouldn't kill them all, right?
"Surrender! We surrender!"
"Imperial Teacher, please spare our lives! Don't kill us!”
The order the Ming army received was to accept the surrender, but they had to cut off the tail of the money rat on the spot.
Thus, the Ming soldiers pulled out the bayonet at their waists.
"The emperor has decreed that we leave the head and the braids, and the braids and the head!”
？？？
The Ming army was speaking Mandarin, and the surrendered Green Camp Han soldiers could understand it.
Leave the head without the braid, leave the braid without the head?
This…
If we cut our braids and the Ming army is defeated, won't we be beheaded by the imperial court for treason?
Seeing the hesitation of the Green Camp Han soldiers, the Ming soldiers were not used to it. They raised their guns and were about to pull the trigger.
Facing the muzzle of the gun, the soldiers from the Green Camp trembled in fear.
"Let's not care so much. Let's save our lives first. The Ming army is so powerful that even 40,000 to 50,000 of us can't stop a few thousand of them. Perhaps surrendering to the Ming army is a good thing.”
"Yes, the Ming army's firearms are too powerful. Based on my experience, as long as there are tens of thousands of them, the Qing army will definitely lose!”
"Surrender. If we surrender now, we might be able to obtain the merit of following the dragon, right?”
"That's right! There shouldn't be many Ming soldiers. At most, they'll chase us and fight 3,000 people. Surrender!”
After whispering to each other for a while, Wang Chenghua, Yang Yan, Zhou Lie, and the other high-ranking officers who were hiding in the crowd made up their minds.
Surrender!
"Don't shoot, we'll cut!”
After saying that, he took off his helmet and threw it away. He gritted his teeth and cut off the tail of the money rat with his saber.
Seeing that the admiral had already voted, the ordinary soldiers did not hesitate and cut off their braids one after another.
The Ming army, who had been tensed up, heaved a sigh of relief. It would be a lie to say that they were not nervous when they surrounded more than 10,000 Qing troops with a few hundred people.
Fortunately, the Qing army was too cowardly and surrendered.
"Stay where you are and don't move. We still have to chase after the Qing army!”
The battle was still going on, and the gunfire in front of them was unusually intense. The Ming army major leading the team was anxious. After hesitating for a moment, he signaled for a platoon of soldiers to stay behind and continue to lead the team forward.
It was a little awkward to leave the soldiers behind to guard the captives. We only have forty people, and you want me to guard tens of thousands of captives?
Helpless, Chang Fei could only threaten,""Don't move. We can call for support from the cannons at any time and raze the area within a few miles to the ground!”
Cannon cannons!
Yang Yanhe knew how powerful the "naval gun" was, so he hurriedly promised,"General, don't worry. We won't move.”
"That's good. When the battle is over, His Majesty the Emperor will deal with you.”
Chang Fei let his guard down slightly.
Wang Chenghua and Zhou Lie, as the highest-ranking generals, had already been appointed. They sat on the ground with worried expressions.
They had surrendered, but what if the imperial court took it out on their families?
Don't doubt the Qing court. They knew the style of the Miren the best. They were cruel to the point of despair.
The more he thought about it, the more afraid he became. Wang Chenghua couldn't help but stand up and ask,""General, if we surrender, our families will suffer the Qing court's revenge…"
"Don't worry, His Majesty has already considered this problem. Before the war, he issued an order to capture the Miren in Guangzhou. The Qing court would not dare to kill the innocent.”
？？？
It could be like this?
Wang Chenghua and the others were surprised. The Emperor of Ming Dynasty was really meticulous!
……
The Battle of Guangzhou was still ongoing. This battle of unequal strength was destined to be bloody and cruel.
In just four hours, when it was 12 noon, the 150,000-strong Qing army collapsed, with nearly 40,000 casualties. After surrendering 30,000, they retreated out of Guangzhou in a sorry state. Their morale had completely fallen to the bottom.
After the Qing army escaped from the city, Zhu Weichu immediately ordered the cannons to open fire, launching a carpet bombing on the Qing army outside the city, killing tens of thousands of Qing soldiers.
The worst of them all was the 50,000 Mi Eight Banners Cavalry. Under the intense bombardment, their warhorses went crazy and ran away uncontrollably, causing many of the Mi Eight Banners soldiers to fall off their horses and have their intestines torn apart by the hooves.
The bombardment lasted for half an hour. When the artillery stopped, corpses were strewn all over Guangzhou. The air was filled with the pungent smell of blood and charred flesh. It was nauseating.
The tired Ming army climbed onto the city wall and raised their guns to cheer, celebrating this great victory.
"Long live Your Majesty! Long live Ming! Long live the Ming army! Long live the flower race!"
"We're home, hooray!”
"Restore the country! Restore the country! Restore the country! Long live Great Ming!"
Cheers resounded through the sky. The Ming army soldiers had tears in their eyes as they stepped on their homeland that they yearned for day and night. They greedily breathed in the air of their hometown. In the end, they could not hold it in and hugged each other and cried loudly.
It had been more than a hundred years. They had been away from their homeland for more than a hundred years. The hard work of several generations and the exhortations of their ancestors before their deaths had made them prepare for the restoration of the country in their lifetime. Even if this generation could not return, they had to let the next generation return and fulfill their dream of restoring the country!
Finally, their generation returned to their homeland.
Taking Guangzhou was only the first step. The next step was to take back the entire south!
The sound of gunfire stopped. Hearing the cheers of the Ming army, the people who had been hiding at home and did not have time to evacuate could no longer hold it in and walked out of their homes.
Corpses piled up like mountains on the streets. The Qing army, who usually showed off their might, were slaughtered like pigs, dogs, cattle, and sheep. Corpses were scattered all over the ground, and blood dyed the bluestone floor red.
Defeated? The Qing army was defeated? The Ming army won?
The commoners looked at each other in shock.
"His Majesty the Emperor has decreed that the braids are not to be cut off, and the braids are not to be cut off. The civilians in the city who are unwilling to cut off their braids can leave on their own, and those who do not cut off their braids before nightfall will be killed without mercy!”
Cavalrymen stepped on the corpses of the Qing army to convey Zhu Weichu's orders.
Leave the head without the braid, leave the braid without the head?
The commoners were silent. It was exactly the same as the Qing army's practice of keeping their hair, but not their heads.
Should I cut my braids?
……
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