At this time, the smoke that enveloped Huai'an city had not completely dissipated. The open space outside the city was full of the bodies of Qing soldiers. Of course, these were all surrendered troops of the Ming Dynasty.&&

In the main formation of the Qing army, Prince Su Haoge looked as if he was ashen, looking at Yang Dafu and Luo Chengyao who were kneeling in front of him, as well as nearly two thousand She Ming retreated defeated troops following behind them. But these people had been disarmed by thousands of authentic Qing troops and all knelt on the ground.

It turned out that after the Qing army arrived at the city of Huai'an, Haoge immediately ordered to start siege.

Although Haoge has a bad temper, he is definitely not an arrogant and ignorant person. The merchants have sharp arms and are brave and good at fighting. Moreover, such as Abatai, Turge, and Tuo, they have suffered losses in the hands of the merchant army. Therefore, although Haoge believes that the exaggeration of the combat effectiveness of the merchant army is a bit exaggerated, he also believes that it should be a little higher than other Ming army.

So when he began to attack Huai'an City, Haoge also used the usual techniques used by the Qing army to let Yuan Ming's surrendered army take the lead and test how strong the combat effectiveness of the Merchant Army was. He sent Li Chengdong's general Yang Dafu and Luo Chengyao to lead 3,000 troops as the first batch of troops to attack the city.

This time, the merchant army did not set up positions outside the city, but retreated to Huai'an City and defended at the top of the city. However, in this way, the defense was tighter. Before the Qing army could advance to the city wall, the artillery rifles at the top of the city opened fire together, and the shells and shells were also attacked the Qing army like hail raindrops, and immediately knocked down a large area of ​​the Qing army.

Li Chengdong's men were killed by the fierce firepower of the merchant army in the first battle, and now they have encountered such a fierce attack, and they dare to continue to advance. They immediately carried forward their spirit of bullying the weak and fearing the strong when they were in the Ming army. They retreated regardless of whether they had military orders or not. After they retreated to the main formation, they were greeted by Haoge's thunder wrath.

Although the fierce firepower of the merchant army was beyond Haoge's expectations, the Ming army's cowardice and incompetence, and the ignorance of military orders made Haoge even more angry. Therefore, he immediately ordered the retreating surrendered troops to be disarmed and all the prisoners were escorted in front of the formation.

At this time, Yang Dafu, Luo Chengyao and the surrendered army were also a little scared, and they also knew that the Ming Dynasty's past was not good for the Qing army, so they couldn't help feeling uneasy, wondering how Haoge would deal with him. However, they had not thought that Haoge would order all of him to be executed, after all, there were about two thousand people.

But soon Haoge shattered their fantasies, because Haoge ordered that all the defeated generals beheaded as a battle.

Yang Dafu, Luo Chengyao and the surrendered soldiers were so scared that they were trembling all over. They knelt on the ground and kowtowed continuously, and cried bitterly: "Prince Su, we know we are wrong. We will never dare to do it again. Let us spare this time."

Haoge sneered and said, "Since the rebellion of Taizu, my Qing Dynasty has always been invincible and has been invincible in every battle. All the soldiers use their lives. Anyone who does not respect military discipline should be killed immediately. People like you who are greedy for life and fear death and who are not military disciplines, what is the use of keeping them? Today, I will use your head to serve as a warning." As he said that, he pulled out his sword, "brushed" two swords, first cut Yang Dafu and Luo Chengyao to death on the spot, and then said, "If you don't keep one, all of them will be beheaded."

The Qing soldiers also took action together, and pushed them out and beheaded one by one amid the begging for mercy by nearly two thousand surrendered soldiers. The other surrendered soldiers from the Ming Dynasty who were watching on both sides were also frightened and their calves were trembling. They were scolding in their hearts. This group of dead Tartars was really cruel.

At this time, the soldiers of the merchant army could see the walls of Huai'an City very clearly and could not discuss them. Cheng Jin said, "Good guy, he is so cruel. He has also taken such a ruthless move to his own people."

Shang Yi said: "This is the end of surrendering to the Tartars."

Zhao Yingjie sneered: "Yes! If I had known this, why would I have to be there? They had asked for such an ending, and they could only deserve it."

Duan Peng said: "After all, the other Ming troops are too useless. Now they can only wait for the Tartars to kill one by one, but they don't even know how to resist. If I had turned against me a long time ago, I would always die anyway. It would be better to take a few away, which would be enough."

Cheng Jin smiled and said, "If they knew how to resist now, they would not have surrendered before. After all, they surrendered because they were afraid of death? But it would not be better if they surrendered. It should be known to other Ming troops, and see who dares to surrender to the Tartars in the future."

Yang Wucheng shook his head and said, "Military Gate, although the Tartars are a little more cruel, the military discipline is strict and they will never stop evading it. It is the correct way to govern the military. If the rest of our Ming army can do this, then the Tartars will not be able to enter the Central Plains at all."

Shang Yi said: "Although what Wu Cheng said makes sense, you have seen it just now. During the war, the Tartars asked them to rush forward to die. The military achievements after victory were from the Tartars. The robberies were divided first. They did not regard us Han people as humans. They killed them and slaughtered them as soon as they say they were killed. They were even worse than pigs and dogs."

Just as they spoke, the Qing army had killed nearly two thousand surrendered soldiers, and the heads were pushed into several small pyramids and arranged in front of the formation. Haoge pointed at the heads and said to the entire army, of course, mainly to the surrendered army: "I don't care what you did in the Ming Dynasty in the past, but since I surrendered to my Qing Dynasty, I have to listen to my Qing Dynasty's orders. You have all seen that this is the consequence of disrespecting the generals. In the future, there are still people who dare to disobey my generals and will lead the same crime. They will kill as much as they can, and will never be punished lightly."

When the surrendered soldiers saw it, they were all as cold as a cicada and didn't even dare to say anything. Even Xu Dingguo and Erji Xu Er'an were frightened, fearing that they would be sent to attack the city by Haoge. Until Haoge sent another five thousand surrendered soldiers to continue attacking Huaian City. Only then did the two men breathe a sigh of relief without sending them to fight, as if they were escaping from death.

This time, the surrendered soldiers did not dare to be careless anymore, so they could only attack the city top and never dared to retreat again. However, the artillery and firearms of the merchant army were not vegetarian. No matter how desperate they were, their flesh and blood could never compete with gunpowder. The surrendered soldiers' armor was far from being compared with the Manchu army, so they were beaten so hard that they were covered with the city and blood flowed. But they did not dare to be negligent.

Of course, Haoge is also aimless in disregarding the life and death of the surrendered army, because his army did not carry red cannons. He could only rely on manpower to attack the city, hoping to use the surrendered army to consume the ammunition of the merchant army, and then dispatched the Manchu and Han flag soldiers to capture Huai'an in one fell swoop.

The Qing army attacked fiercely for three days, killing more than 8,000 surrendered troops in total. However, although the damage was not small, it also gained. At least the firepower of the merchant army was significantly looser than the first day. This also shows that the ammunition of the merchant army should have been almost consumed. Therefore, Haoge ordered to dispatch the Manchu and Han flag army and start siege.

The result was similar to what Haoge expected. After the Manchu and Han flag troops were dispatched, the merchant army abandoned the city and left the city with just a little resistance. The Qing army took advantage of the situation to capture Huai'an City.

Although the Qing army lost a lot of people, the all-dead soldiers were all surrendered. The Manchu and Han flag troops, including Baoyi, had basically no casualties. Therefore, Haoge was very happy and believed that his tactics were absolutely correct, so he ordered to march along the canal and take straight to Yangzhou. At this time, Li Chengdong had repaired the floating bridge in Hongze Lake, and Haoge also ordered Li Chengdong to fight with the army. After all, Li Chengdong had three thousand soldiers under his command, which was also a great consumable.

However, the Qing army's subsequent march was very smooth. The merchant army was so angry that it was too late to fight again and again. It retreated again and again, retreating to the vicinity of Gaoyouzhou. The Qing army took advantage of the victory and marched continuously, conquering Baoying, Yancheng, Huailou Town, Zhangjiagou and other places, and advanced more than 150 miles in a row. It also approached Gaoyouzhou.

The news that the merchant army lost Huai'an and then retreated repeatedly reached Yangzhou. Shi Kefa, who had just been relieved for a few days, suddenly became nervous again. Gaoyouzhou is the gateway to Yangzhou. Once Gaoyou is lost, Yangzhou will be no longer blocked and will be directly exposed to the Qing army's troops.

At this moment, Luo Yuanbin also arrived in Yangzhou with a batch of weapons and ammunition, and was about to deliver it to Shang Yi, and Shi Kefa could no longer sit still in Yangzhou, so he followed Luo Yuanbin's transportation team to Gaoyou to meet with Shang Yi and discuss how to guard Yangzhou.

Shi Kefa and his party arrived in Gaoyou, but did not see Shang Yi. Li Benshen, who had just moved to Gaoyou, said that the merchant army had been stationed near Qingshuitan, about ten miles north of Gaoyou City, and did not retreat into Gaoyou City. Shi Kefa was also shocked and wondered why Shang Yi did not retreat into Gaoyou City. Is it hard to say that he was going to bypass Gaoyou City?

In fact, at this time, Li Benshen, Hu Maozhen and others of Gao Jie were also very nervous, fearing that the Qing army would attack Gaoyou, so they certainly did not dare to fight with the Qing army, so they planned to take Xing and Gao Jie's son to continue fleeing south. At this time, even the soft and soft property had been packed up. At the same time, they were also planning to rob the batch of materials brought by Luo Yuanbin.

However, Luo Yuanbin had already received Shang Yi's order and was always careful with Li Benshen. He left supplies and other items outside the city and ordered soldiers to guard them strictly. When he entered the city, he also brought two battalions of troops into the city, leaving one battalion to guard the city gate. Seeing that the Shang army was prepared and was still a little afraid of Shang Yi, and at the same time, he was also hindering Shi Kefa, so he did not dare to act rashly.

At this moment, Shang Yi sent someone to Gaoyou to deliver a letter to Shi Kefa, telling him that he would organize a defense line in Qingshuitan to snipe the Qing army, and ask Shi Kefa to go to Qingshuitan to meet him. He also ordered Luo Yuanbin to quickly deliver the supplies.

After Shi Kefa received the letter, he couldn't figure out what Shang Yi sold in this gourd. If he wanted to block the Qing army, wouldn't it be good in Gaoyou City? Why should he set up the Qingshui Pond? Fortunately, the Qingshui Pond is not far away, so he decided to immediately rush to Qingshui Pond to meet Shang Yi and ask what was going on. Li Benshen and Hu Maozhen also wanted to see how Shang Yi blocked the Qing army in Qingshui Pond, so he followed Shi Kefa and went together.
Chapter completed!