On the afternoon of November 16, the imperial chariot of the Qing Dynasty puppet emperor Huang Taiji was escorted by a large number of Baya soldiers, followed by a large number of Zhengyang, Bianhuang and Bianlan Alhachaoha horseback soldiers led by Jierhalang.

, arrived at the Qingchang Gate in Pyongyang Prefecture in a mighty manner.

When Huang Taiji turned from Zhenjiang Fort to attack Yizhou Fucheng, he was accompanied by the three banners of Zhenghuang, Xianghuang and Xianglan, Baya Laga and Alhachaoha, totaling more than 15,000 people.

If we add in the heavy artillery troops of the Han armies of various banners who were united by King Huaishun, Geng Zhongming, and King Kong Youde, the total number of troops under his command was only over 20,000.

However, after successively conquering the rebel cities on the second road to the north of the imperial court, a large number of imperial traitor troops were subdued along the way, and a large number of imperial soldiers were also captured.

Especially after it was decided in Dingzhou City that the accompanying banners could be divided into imperial records, a large number of surrendered imperial traitors and captured imperial Dingzhuang were absorbed into the banner camps of Zhenghuang, Xianghuang and Xianglan.

under.

In addition to the dozen or so new dynasty people who were selected and compiled, in the three banners of Zhenghuang, Xianghuang and Xianglan, Baya La camp and Aliha Chaoha camp, there is a Baya La or Aliha Chaoha camp.

Almost all of them got two or three followers, Aha.

The heavy artillery team, including the two kings Kong and Geng, which had always been slow to move, also moved faster than before because of the large number of captured court people who were young and strong to drive.

Since crossing the river and entering the Li Dynasty, the number of soldiers and horses under Huang Taiji's command has not only grown day by day, but their morale has also risen sharply because they have a large number of followers to serve them.

Now even Huang Taiji himself secretly regrets staying outside Zhenjiang Fort for too long.

At the same time, he also secretly regretted that he should not have given in to the strong backbone of Zhenjiang Fort first, but should have put the easy things first and then the difficult ones. He first crossed the river and wiped out the rebellion on the North Second Road of Chaoren, and then went back to deal with Yang Zhen.

However, whether Huang Taiji felt regretful or resentful, now that the matter had come to this, he could only temporarily put down Zhenjiang Fort, and then devote all his thoughts to completely conquering the court people.

In the afternoon of the same day, after leading his troops to arrive outside the gate of Qingchang, he ordered Gang Lin, Nikan and others to set up camp at the mountain village in the north of the city. At the same time, he ordered Huaishun King Geng Zhongming and Gongshun King Kong Youde to command the heavy artillery team to place the heavy artillery.

Prepare for bombardment.

At the same time, Huang Taiji did not forget to ask Jierhalang, the king of Duolozheng County, to send people to shoot arrows into the city and try to recruit the defenders in the city.

The other princes, Baylor, were very resistant to the idea of ​​recruiting courtiers and following Huang Taiji in his own expedition.

For them, the imperial city was low and had no heavy artillery. It was no match for their own army and there was no need to surrender.

Furthermore, if they really succeeded in recruiting and surrendering, they would not be able to rob or plunder the city after entering the city, and they would not be able to take the city's population and property as their own, then there would be no point in fighting this battle.

However, Huang Taiji, who was deeply influenced by the Han's military tactics, still adhered to his previous fighting style and recruited surrender before starting the war.

Rather than fighting, he still hopes to win without a fight.

Of course, after experiencing the failure to recruit Yang Zhen under Zhenjiang Fort and being plotted by Yang Zhen, Huang Taiji became much harsher on recruiting enemies.

For example, this time, he did not make any other promises to the rebellious Korean troops in Pyongyang City except that they would be spared the massacre.

At the same time, Huang Taiji put forward two conditions for the surrender of Kaicheng.

One is to limit the time for surrender, and limit the city to surrender before the next day. If you don't surrender, everyone will be executed after the city is broken.

The other is to require those who surrender to shave their heads. Anyone who refuses to shave his hair and surrender will be regarded as a false surrender and will not be shot.

The two demands put forward by Huang Taiji and the corresponding promise to avoid massacre were delivered to the hands of the Shen brothers that evening.

Not to mention that the two of them had no intention of surrendering in the first place. Even if they had this idea occasionally, after reading the surrender letter that Huang Taiji sent people to shoot into the city, it was impossible for them to choose to surrender.

Because for the Shen brothers, they have not really reached the end of their rope.

As early as the first day, when they decided to release the civilian refugees who wanted to evacuate to the south out of the city, they had already thought about their retreat.

This retreat is the fleet cruising the sea.

And long before the vanguard soldiers of the Qing Dynasty arrived at the outskirts of Pyongyang City, the Shen brothers had already sent people to contact Lin Qingye.

The reason why the unsteady North Koreans, officials and civilians in the city were allowed to flee was because the fleet anchored at sea had limited transport capacity and simply could not bear the tens of thousands of military and civilians in Pyongyang's capital city.

Moreover, those court people who are unwilling to follow the Shen brothers to fight against the invaders will also be a hidden danger when they come to Jinhai Town in the future.

The Shen brothers also hope to take this opportunity to leave behind a group of resolute court people and drag them to Jinhai Town in the future to make them their loyal followers.

In this case, whether they continue to work under Yang Zhen and continue to serve in Jinhai Town, or one day return to the Li Dynasty with their troops, they will be able to get away with it.

Therefore, although the Shen brothers stayed in Pyongyang Prefecture with a few rebel troops as a call to defend the city against the invaders, they had no intention of holding on.

When the time comes, he is ready to abandon the city and flee.

However, the direction of their escape was not the Yellow Sea Road on the other side of the Datong River, nor Hanyang City. Instead, they planned to leave the city from Jinghai Gate and head west, heading straight to where Lin Qingye and his fleet were anchored.

Now they are just waiting for news, that is, the news of the arrival of Yu Liangtai's fleet.

Valley

Once the fleet led by Yu Liangtai of the Jinhae East Road Naval Battalion comes from the station near Dongjiang Island to the coast west of Pyongyang Fucheng, the Shen brothers will not hesitate to flee with their troops.

Just the night before, when the refugees were allowed to evacuate the city of Pyongyang, the Shen brothers also sent their close associates, carrying tokens and handwritten notes, to contact Lin Qingye in accordance with the previous agreement.

If nothing else happens, we can return tonight. By then, we will be able to determine whether we can still defend the city, or for how long.

Therefore, when the Shen brothers received the surrender letter from the Qing captives outside the city in the evening, they were not too panicked. They just sent people over and over to Ximen City to look towards the west coast.

It was not until after midnight that the Shen brothers, who had not received any news, asked people to shoot the book out of the city in the same way and asked Huang Taiji for another day of grace.

But Huang Taiji, who had experienced the failure of Zhenjiang Fort to recruit and surrender, certainly could not give any grace to Pyongyang Prefecture.

As soon as midnight passed the next day, the Qinglu artillery array that had been deployed outside Qingchang Gate in the north of the city began to bombard.

There is no outer city in Pyongyang Prefecture, and there are no barbicans inside or outside the current North Gate Qingchang Gate. At the same time, there are no heavy cannons on the top of the city.

Although the only twenty general cannons are all concentrated on the north gate, the range of the general cannons is very limited and cannot threaten the Qinglu's more than twenty Tianyou supporting generals.

However, the twenty large general cannons placed on the city also withstood a lot of firepower from heavy artillery outside the city for the north gate wall of Pyongyang City.

Otherwise, the wall at the north gate of Pyongyang City might not have been able to hold up at all and would have been destroyed by the evening of that day.

The Qing soldiers and horses who had suffered enough from the artillery fire on the city under Zhenjiang Fort knew that the city wall of Pyongyang Fucheng was not difficult to destroy, so after discovering a large number of artillery emplacements at the head of the city, they first directed the heavy artillery bombardment directly towards the city head.

The general's cannon.

In this way, they continued to fight until noon. After all the gun emplacements on the city head were silenced, they lowered their muzzles and fired fiercely at the city wall.

Until nightfall again, the Qing Dynasty's heavy artillery positions outside the city continued to fire one shot after another, with no intention of stopping after nightfall, until the city wall near the north gate was crumbling.

The Shen brothers and several other generals in the city finally realized that the last moment for Pyongyang Fucheng was coming.

However, at this time, Shen Qicheng's close confidant who was sent to contact Lin Qingye's fleet took a person and returned to Pyongyang Prefecture in the dark from outside Jinghai Gate.

The person brought into the city that night was none other than Che Zhongliang, Che Liliang's younger brother.

After Che Zhongliang escaped from Dingzhou City, he first arrived at the Qingchuan River Estuary and found Lin Qingye's fleet cruising there.

After Lin Qingye's fleet fired artillery from the sea and the troops covering Che Liliang fled into Anzhou City, Che Zhongliang temporarily stayed in the fleet.

After the news from Dingzhou City spread, Che Zhongliang followed Lin Qingye's fleet south to the sea outside Pyongyang Fucheng.

After Lin Qingye sent someone to contact the Shen brothers, he learned that the Shen brothers hoped to evacuate by fleet when they could no longer defend the city.

In this regard, although Lin Qingye felt a little disappointed with the Shen brothers, he did not firmly oppose their decision.

After all, Yang Zhen had such an arrangement when he sent him to support the Ping'an Daochao people's anti-Qing uprising.

For example, the ship sent to Ganghwa Island was arranged by Lin Qingye after getting in touch with people from Shen Qiyuan.

Therefore, evacuation was originally an option.

What makes Lin Qingye intolerable is the tens of thousands of refugees in Pyongyang Prefecture.

Because Lin Qingye's fleet had detached itself to go to Ganghwa Island, the fleet, which originally had a small capacity, could not carry too many people at one time.

Faced with such difficulties, Lin Qingye asked the Shen brothers to lead the army and wait, while he quickly sent Che Zhongliang to take a boat to Dongjiang Island to find Yu Liangtai.

Fortunately, Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of the Qing Dynasty, stopped in Dingzhou City and Anzhou City for a few days to rest and recuperate in order to collect the captured dynasty people.

Otherwise, the city of Pyongyang might have fallen before Yu Liangtai arrived with the fleet from Jinhae East Road.

However, it is said that at 8 o'clock on November 17, Che Zhongliang entered Pyongyang City and reported the news of the arrival of Yu Liangtai's Jinhai East Road fleet to Shen Qicheng.

Shen Qicheng was so happy that he was not willing to wait any longer. He immediately summoned all the soldiers and generals left behind in the city and told them his real plan.

An Kecheng, Cai Menheng, Che Liliang and others were overjoyed when they heard this.

As for the several rebel commanders Shen Qicheng mobilized from Jiechuan Mine and brought to Pyongyang City, they had already participated in Shen Qicheng's plan before. Now that they have seen this matter come to fruition, they are all relieved.

In the face of death, few people can truly remain indifferent.
Chapter completed!