Chapter 418 Yuezhou Tragedy
Chapter 418 Yuezhou Tragedy
A day later, the Beijing troops advanced rapidly, leaving behind the civilians and baggage, crossed Luliangzhou, and arrived at the city of Yuezhou.
Arriving here, almost everyone's heart suddenly sank.
Yuezhou, the rebels' lair, was in ruins.
The city gates were wide open, like the bloody mouth of a giant beast, emitting death and despair.
Armor, long swords and various scattered objects were thrown on the ground in chaos.
On the city walls and ground, you can still see the black ash left by the fire.
Near the city gate, corpses were lying all over the ground,
Some of them had mutilated limbs, and some had been eaten beyond recognition by maggots.
A strong stench filled the air, making people sick.
Some starving people, their bodies covered with skin and bones, were crawling on the ground struggling, and died stiffly in a certain posture, looking hideous and terrifying.
Some disaster victims sat blankly on the edge of the city, their eyes dull and lifeless.
Their clothes were ragged, and the rags fluttered feebly in the wind.
Even if he noticed the Jing army, he just silently moved his eyes away.
The calmness in his eyes twitched a few times, but soon returned to calmness and he continued to sit there in a daze.
Seeing these scenes, Lu Yunyi's face became extremely solemn.
Beside him, the same thing happened to Guan Wenzhi, deputy general of the Dragon and Tiger Guard.
Commanding General Deng Zhizhong was seriously injured and unable to travel at full speed, so he stayed behind with a group of injured generals.
Many generals from Heyang Guard, Henghai Guard, and Jianghuai Guard stayed behind with him.
At this time, the Beijing army was under the command of Lu Yunyi.
After the battle in Yunnan, Lu Yunyi had fully demonstrated his ability in battle formations and fighting.
The remaining generals were also happy to see this happen and wanted to follow Lu Yunyi to make a contribution.
But the devastation they saw before them shocked everyone.
In their imagination, the most difficult thing should be how to enter the city.
The Beijing army currently has only 20,000 troops. If they want to enter Yuezhou City, they will have to spend some effort and a fight is inevitable.
But now, the empty gate stood there alone, waiting for them to enter.
Li Jinglong looked at the gate, frowning, and murmured strangely:
"Empty city plan?"
Hearing this, Lu Yunyi slowly shook his head:
"Duke Cao, given the situation here, if we use the empty city plan, the cost will be too high. Let's enter the city as planned."
Li Jinglong looked strange, and although he was confused,
But he decided to listen to Yun Yi, and then he began to give orders.
The voice was timid at first, but perhaps after feeling the spirit of the commander-in-chief, the voice became louder and louder!
"Order the entire army to enter the city!"
"According to the established plan, control the government office, the ferry, the four city gates, and the intersection of the main roads!"
"If there are any rebels, they will be killed without mercy!"
"Anyone who obstructs the Beijing army will be killed without mercy!"
As military orders were issued one after another, Li Jinglong's cheeks flushed, his eyes were filled with excitement, and even his hands holding the reins were shaking slightly.
He kept clenching and unclenching, as if he was savoring the taste.
It turns out that this is what it feels like to command an army on the march and fight a war!
At this time, Lu Yunyi reminded: "Do not invade civilians or enter their homes without permission."
Li Jinglong was startled, and hurriedly took out the booklet from his pocket and flipped through it quickly.
Soon I saw a page of a book with dense handwriting.
He called out from the book:
"Whenever you come across the farms, houses, and residences of the common people, you are not allowed to enter without permission, take anything, or set fire to or rob.
If anyone dares to invade people's homes and disturb the people,
Once verified, no matter his military rank, he will be executed immediately!
The superiors were jointly punished, and the generals who failed to supervise were also severely punished.
The army marches only to show its power to the rebels.
The people must not be disturbed in the slightest. Those who disobey orders will be dealt with mercilessly by military law!"
"Yes!"
Teams of messengers quickly spread the order.
The Beijing army, which had been quiet and motionless, began to move slowly and march towards Yuezhou!
Generals such as Li Jinglong stood on one side of the road.
Watching the Beijing troops rushing into Yuezhou with great momentum!
Liu Heiying saw that he was still holding the book, looking at it from time to time, and muttering to himself from time to time.
Some of them leaned over curiously, wanting to find out what was going on!
Li Jinglong noticed this move and quickly turned his body to the side, covering his arms with the book, and looked at Liu Heiying with some caution:
"What are you doing!"
Seeing him like this, Liu Heiying laughed:
"Duke Cao, let us take a look. If there is anything wrong, we can correct it for you!"
"Don't think about it!"
Li Jinglong stuffed the booklet into his arms quickly as if he were protecting a treasure and patted it gently.
"This booklet contains the essence of the battle formation, it is definitely correct, there is no need to change it!"
Liu Heiying smiled and nodded, saying yes repeatedly, and then said softly:
"Duke Cao, the key to battle is to be flexible.
If we fight according to the established pattern,
If the enemy is an excellent general, he will easily see through our tactics and be easily defeated."
"what?"
Li Jinglong was shocked and suddenly felt that the book in his chest was not so precious anymore.
"He lied to you. You have to learn to walk before you can run. Being methodical is the right way. Take your time."
At this time, Lu Yunyi's voice came from the front, with a soothing effect.
Li Jinglong felt relieved and then, gritting his teeth, punched Liu Heying twice!
"Fatty, you lied to me!"
Liu Heiying laughed loudly. The many guards beside him were already accustomed to such scenes and they all lowered their heads and chuckled.
However, Guan Wenzhi and other Beijing army generals saw such a scene for the first time. Their eyes widened and their faces were full of disbelief!
The Beijing troops entered the city extremely quickly, with nearly 20,000 troops entering the city in less than half an hour.
Until this time, Li Jinglong walked in front of the crowd,
He waved his hands vigorously and shouted:
"Enter the city!"
The group had just entered Yuezhou and had just crossed the city gate.
A smell that was even harder to ignore than that outside the city surged up like mist, enveloping them all.
Everyone frowned slightly.
Passing through the dim city gate, the view suddenly became clear.
They saw the miserable scene in Yuezhou!
As far as the eye can see, most of the houses have been destroyed by the war, and there are still wisps of smoke rising from the ruins.
The streets were littered with rubble.
Occasionally, you can see a few skinny wild dogs rummaging around for food.
Their eyes also revealed hunger and ferocity, and were glowing red.
Just like outside the city, this place is also a hell on earth.
The corpses were scattered all over the ground, the bluestone road was a mess, and there were traces of blood everywhere.
Through the dilapidated doors and windows of the surrounding houses, one could vaguely see the bloody bodies lying on the ground.
Everyone was shocked by this sudden scene.
Li Jinglong pursed his lips, looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief, and asked a question:
"Is this a massacre?"
Lu Yunyi's face was solemn. Although he had read a lot of documents,
I knew what the rebellion looked like, but seeing it with my own eyes was still extremely shocking.
Lu Yunyi quickly gathered his thoughts and spoke in a deep voice:
"Duke Cao, any rebellion that occurs in the city will end in chaos.
Those who join the rebels will be spared, while those who do not obey or are ignorant will be massacred."
"So there are no living people in the city?"
Li Jinglong only felt his lips dry. He had never seen what rebellion looked like.
Lu Yunyi nodded:
"Yes, there are hundreds of rebellions, big and small, recorded in the documents, and they all survive.
Most of the resistance forces were composed of government officials.
They used government offices or the mansions of wealthy families in the city as their bases to defend themselves against the enemy.
However, judging from Ah Zi's route,
He must have cleaned up Yuezhou, taking away everything he could, and preparing to live in the mountains of Guizhou."
"so."
Li Jinglong's pupils shook violently. He understood what Yun Yi meant.
There are living people in the city, but probably not many.
Li Jinglong was breathing rapidly. After arriving in Yunnan,
He found that many things were different from what he had imagined.
The battlefield is different, the rebellion is different.
His impression of the rebellion was still that a group of rebels occupied land and ruled as kings.
With a loud roar, "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers all of different species?"
He even thought about it.
The people of Yuezhou should do what they should do.
It was nothing more than the sky above my head changing from Ming Dynasty to rebel army.
After the Ming Dynasty killed the rebels, the situation changed again, and at most a few people died.
But I didn’t expect so many people would die!
At this time, the first batch of scouts who entered the city earlier,
A messenger came running over, his voice was urgent and powerful:
"We found a strong fort in the direction of the government office in the city. After scouts investigated, they found people holding scouts inside!"
Li Jinglong's eyes suddenly lit up:
"Is it an official from Yuezhou?"
The messenger showed respect and said, "Reporting to Duke Cao, no,
Lord Xu judged that they were rebels and had already surrounded them and prepared to attack them with firearms. "
Li Jinglong's bright eyes quickly dimmed.
The government office has been captured, and there may not be many living people in the city.
He suddenly lost interest and felt that marching and fighting was just so-so and it would be better to live a carefree life in the capital every day.
Seeing that he was depressed, Lu Yunyi did not dissuade him, but ordered in a deep voice:
"Go, lead the way!"
"Yes!"
Soon, the group arrived at the Yuezhou government office.
Compared to a normal government office, this place has changed a lot.
There were densely packed sandbags placed on the road in front of the door.
There are wooden fences and some fortifications, and some on the roof, all the way to the end of the street.
The government office and the two adjacent buildings were wrapped up.
On the defense line, you can see kerosene and black wooden fences from time to time.
And the "people" hiding behind sandbags with fear on their faces.
Seeing Lu Yunyi coming here, Xu Zengshou hurried over with a serious face:
"Sir, our troops have completed the siege of the government office in front of us and are ready to attack at any time."
"Is Guo Quan behind the government office?"
Xu Zengshou answered loudly: "Yes!"
"Have you confirmed who is the enemy?"
Lu Yunyi asked a question that everyone was concerned about.
Xu Zengshou pursed his lips and spoke in a deep voice:
"Reporting to you, sir, it has been confirmed that the people occupying this place are all rebels!
Our army has called out to them many times before, telling them that we belong to the Beijing Army, but they remain unmoved.
According to the information sent back by the scouts, most of the people inside are young and strong, with very few women and children."
As soon as these words came out, everyone present felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.
The most obvious difference between the rebels and the resistance army formed by the imperial court is the number of the elderly, the weak, women and children.
One side abandons the elderly, the weak, women and children, while the other side protects them.
Lu Yunyi took a deep breath and turned his head to look at Li Jinglong beside him.
Seeing that he still looked uninterested, he gave the order himself:
"This is my last call. If you don't surrender, we will attack immediately."
"Use firearms and bows as the main attack, and tell all soldiers to protect themselves!"
Xu Zengshou's eyes suddenly became sharp and he straightened his back like a sharp knife!
"Yes!"
Soon, a group of soldiers holding loud speakers appeared.
They shouted in unison towards the Yuezhou government office, their voices shaking the sky:
"Listen up, you rebels! The army is at the gates of the city!
The imperial court has always ruled the world with benevolence and compassion for the people, and cannot bear to commit too much killing!
If you lay down your weapons and surrender immediately, you may be given a lighter sentence, or even be spared from death, and only the main culprit will be punished.
However, if you refuse to repent and continue to resist, when our army enters, you will be severely punished and no one will be spared!
We are all elite troops, and we are unstoppable wherever we go.
Don't try to fight against a rock with an egg. It would be wise to surrender quickly!"
The sound lingered near the Yuezhou government office.
Countless black crows were scared away!
However, there has been no movement from the government office.
The rebels hiding behind the sandbags are still hunched over there.
Even though his eyes were filled with fear and panic, he still had no intention of surrendering.
Xu Zengshou was riding on a war horse, looking down from a high vantage point. Seeing that they were stubborn and refused to change their ways, he simply gave up trying to persuade them.
bass--
The long sword at the waist came out of the scabbard, and the sharp cold light was particularly obvious under the sunlight.
Xu Zengshou held the long sword and swung it forward vigorously:
"attack!"
"Inform all units, pass the stone mines forward one by one!"
The messengers hurried along, and the loudspeakers blared one after another.
A noisy sound suddenly arose, and the military order spread around the government office in less than ten breaths!
When Guo Quan in the rear heard this military order,
There was only coldness on his resolute face. He took the brass trumpet and shouted:
"Stone mine rockets ready!"
clack clack-
The sound of armor colliding rang out around the government office.
The soldiers all looked excited, pursed their lips, and their eyes flashed with excitement.
They were actually a little afraid that the rebels inside were cowards and surrendered so hastily.
Now if they don't surrender, they can gain more.
Although the money gained from suppressing the rebels was far less than that gained from killing the enemy,
But it doesn’t matter, even a few flies are still meat!
Wang Laoliu was one of the soldiers who besieged the city.
He was holding a stone mine in his hand, his lips tightly pursed, staring at the groove formed by three sandbags in front of him.
According to his observation, there were at least three rebels in there, one of whom was holding a longbow.
If we can kill them all, this trip will be worthwhile!
He looked down at his right leg and found that the sprained part had completely healed.
At this moment, push off the ground and prepare to exert force!
"Give me some face and don't lose face!"
Not far away, Zhang Zhengyi was also among the besieged soldiers.
He also held a stone mine in his hand and stared at it blankly with a complicated expression.
A year ago, he asked Hu Kui to move him to the front army scout unit.
Always wandering and fighting on the battlefield, but never gaining anything.
It was not until the surprise attack on the Gold Tooth Guards that he achieved success.
But... this achievement was achieved at the cost of the lives of colleagues including Lou Yuhe, and he felt very resentful about it.
The rough big hand tightly grasped the stone mine, feeling the roughness on it.
Zhang Zhengyi quickly put aside all his thoughts and his face became serious!
Team after team, each soldier held stone mines in their hands with either excitement or confusion, ready to launch an attack on the rebels in front of them.
Finally, after three breaths of time, unbridled shouting rang out from all directions!
"put!"
Wang Laowu and Wang Laoliu gritted their teeth, lit the stone mine, and took two steps.
He used all his strength to throw the stone mine out!
Zhang Zhengyi gritted his teeth, mobilized all the muscles in his body, and threw the stone mine out as well!
Suddenly, black arcs appeared in the clear sky, moving from the periphery towards the government office!
"Boom boom boom——"
The dull sound of war drums and horns rang out.
The originally peaceful "battlefield" was suddenly filled with excitement.
The blood of all the soldiers was boiling, and some of them even cursed loudly:
“That’s the power!”
A stone thunder streaked across the sky and landed on the government office of Yuezhou.
The rebels looked at the black spot in bewilderment, with doubts flashing in their eyes.
At first they thought it was an arrow and dodged.
But then, someone shouted,
"It's a stone!"
The rebels breathed a sigh of relief and stopped fleeing.
But soon, click
The stone mines fell, and they really looked like stones.
But there was still glaring white smoke coming out of it.
"What is this?"
A rebel who looked like a leader came closer and stretched out his long sword, swinging it back and forth.
next moment!
boom--
The violent sparks drowned out the doubts in his heart, and the sharp explosions came one after another.
From all around the government office,
Almost in an instant, the entire government office was shrouded in a layer of pungent white smoke!
"what"
"Help."
After the ear-piercing explosion, there were shrill shouts and cries for help.
Accompanied by the "patter" and "clatter" of raindrops,
Those were broken limbs and pieces of flesh falling from the sky.
In an instant, the bluestone slab, which was originally not so clean, became even dirtier and blurrier!
The dark ground suddenly turned blood red, and blood rained from the sky.
"put!"
Before the survivors could react, another shout rang out from all directions.
"Whoosh whoosh—"
Another wave of stone mines crossed the protective sandbags and fences and entered the area occupied by the rebels.
This time, all the rebels knew the power of the "stone".
They began to flee in panic, like headless flies.
But when they left the bunker, Xu Zengshou's eyes flashed, his face was cold, and he shouted:
"Bows and crossbows are fired at once, leaving no one alive!"
"squeak--"
The longbows were slowly stretched to their limit in the hands of the soldiers. The strings were taut and made a stagnant sound.
Hundreds of arrows flew out of the bowstrings at almost the same time, streaking through the sky and leaving silver trails.
Pierced through the white smoke produced by the stone mine explosion!
It pierced the azure sky and pierced the flesh and blood of the rebels who were not protected by armor!
Muffled groans, screams, and the sound of people falling down came one after another!
In an instant, the battlefield, which was originally on high alert and extremely tense, became absurd and silent.
Xu Zengshou stood on a high place and saw the "battlefield" which was originally filled with rebels.
At this moment, the crowd has become sparse, with only a few able to move.
But to be on the safe side, he ordered another salvo.
He waved his hand only after there was no more sound in front of him:
"If you rush in and resist, kill them without mercy!"
As the military order was issued, the soldiers who were ready to go rushed in like a tide, with bloodthirsty greed in their eyes!
(End of this chapter)