On the battlefield.
Looking at the motionless Ming army, Hong Chengchou's face became redder and redder.
He thought the Ming army would launch a third charge, but there was no movement at all.
The first time he offered advice to Dorgon on the battlefield ended in failure, which was so embarrassing.
"Mr. Hong...what...should we do next?" Dorgon was speechless and could only ask casually.
Before Hong Chengchou could answer, the city wall of Zhenjing Fort collapsed with a loud bang.
The wall of Zhenjing Fort is only about ten feet thick.
A year ago, it would have taken the Eight Banners soldiers a long time to dig down a city wall of this thickness.
but......
In the Battle of Ningyuan, the Eight Banners Army and the Ming Army launched an unprecedented digging and filling competition.
This competition directly maxed out the Eight Banners soldiers’ proficiency in digging.
Although there are differences between digging city walls and digging soil, there are also similarities.
At the moment the city wall collapsed, Fan Ciwu, the defender of Zhenjing Fort, was gasping for breath behind the battlements of the city wall.
Then there was a shake under my feet and a vibration.
The city wall not far to his right collapsed.
More than a hundred soldiers fell to the ground along with the city wall.
Before the wailing could be heard, dust covered the nearby sky.
"Sir...Sir, the city wall collapsed!" A Yuyuan soldier stumbled to Fan Ciwu and said in a horrified tone.
"I saw it." Fan Ciwu was very calm.
"What should we do next? Fight... or surrender?" someone asked.
"Ha!" Fan Ciwu sneered, "You can surrender if you want, but I won't surrender anyway."
"I won't surrender!"
"I won't surrender either!"
"We won't surrender!"
Although the nearby Yuyuan Army soldiers were still in fear, they showed no intention of surrendering.
"Then let's fight!" Fan Ciwu picked up the spear.
The others also picked up their weapons and looked at the collapsed city wall.
Before the dust settled, the Jiannu soldiers attacked on the ruins.
At this time, the soldiers in Yuyuan had not yet recovered from the shock of the collapsed city wall, and they were defeated after fighting with the Jiannu.
Fan Ciwu could only lead the remaining soldiers into the streets of the city and prepare for street fighting.
The Jiannu soldiers crawled into the city along the ruins, opened the city gates and let the friendly troops in.
The Jiannu cavalry rode into the city and began searching for the remaining Ming troops.
They soon discovered the traces of the Ming army and organized troops to kill them.
Fan Ciwu's plan was to form an infantry formation, fight and retreat, delay as much time as possible and kill the enemy.
However, he had no experience in street fighting, and the situation was urgent, so he encountered problems in deploying his troops.
He lined up his troops in the street but forgot to deploy them in the yard next to it.
As a result, the Jiannu entered the yard next door, climbed up the wall and shot arrows at them.
After losing dozens of people, Fan Ciwu ran to the warehouse where military rations were stored with injuries.
This is a very large courtyard.
The courtyard wall was thick and high, temporarily blocking the pursuit of the Jiannu.
Looking at the mountains of grain in the warehouse, Fan Ciwu closed his eyes and said slowly: "Come here, set all this grain on fire."
No one objected to his order.
They knew they were in a mortal situation.
If the grain is not burned, the stored grain will fall into the hands of the Jiannu.
Several Yuyuan soldiers took out the only remaining grenades, smashed them open, sprinkled gunpowder on the food, and ignited them with flint.
With a whoosh, the gunpowder emitted flames and thick smoke.
The dry grain was ignited and began to burn slowly.
With a bang.
The warehouse door was knocked open by the Jiannu with wood, and countless Jiannu soldiers appeared on the surrounding walls.
They passed through the gate, climbed over the wall and came into the yard.
"You won't be killed if you surrender!" shouted Subai of the Plain White Banner.
"Kill the Jiannu and recover Liaodong!" Fan Ciwu responded coldly.
When Subai wanted to persuade them again, he found that the food behind him was emitting black smoke.
"Hurry, the food is on fire! Kill them all and put out the fire!" Subai shouted anxiously.
The fire is not big now and not much food has been burned.
The fire can be put out by separating the burning grain from other grains.
Every extra delay increases the chance of the fire getting out of control.
The surrounding Jiannu soldiers were well aware of this, and they immediately drew their swords and rushed forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Yuyuan soldiers.
There were less than two hundred Yuyuan soldiers left at the scene.
They formed a tall human wall to keep the Jiannu out.
The knife flashed and blood gushed out.
The hammer swung and bones broke.
At first, both sides attacked and defended, trying their best to avoid getting hurt.
As the fire intensified, the Jiannu soldiers began to fight desperately.
They ignored the weapons thrown by the Ming army and only wanted to die together with the enemy.
Fighting in this way, the Ming army quickly lost most of its troops.
The remaining people were also injured and stood there staggering.
Fan Ciwu was hit by five swords and three arrows. He was leaning on the ground with his right spear and gasping for breath.
"Where are the Eight Banners soldiers?" Subai shook off the blood on his hands and yelled to the people around him.
"Here!" Countless Eight Banners soldiers responded with roars.
"Kill!" Subai's order was simple and straightforward.
"Kill!" Countless Eight Banners soldiers rushed up with weapons.
Fan Ciwu held the spear tightly in both hands, thrust it forward with all his strength, and said: "Life is what I want; justice is what I want!"
The soldiers in Yuyuan nearby were startled at first, and then they followed suit and recited loudly: "Life is what I want; righteousness is what I want!"
These Yuyuan soldiers all came from Shandong.
Many of them have never been to school, but they can speak some profound truths off the top of their heads.
When a soldier from Yuyuan was chopped on the neck by an Eight Banners soldier, the knife in his hand also stabbed into the opponent's abdomen.
Before he died, he was still muttering: "Life is what I want, but there are things I want more than life, so I will not do anything to get it."
Another Yuyuan soldier smashed an enemy to death with his helmet, then picked up his weapon and joined the battle again: "I hate death, but there are things I hate more than death, so I will not avoid any danger."
In the blink of an eye, soldiers from both sides fell down and the granary was dyed red with blood.
Amid the rumbling footsteps, countless Eight Banners soldiers rushed in.
At this time, the smoke was thick and the vision began to be obstructed.
But the two sides did not stop and continued to fight to the death.
Fan Ciwu coughed heavily twice, spat out a mouthful of blood, and swung the spear again.
He spoke a sentence every time he lunged forward.
As he was speaking, the voice disappeared.
Then another person's voice sounded: "Mencius said, Heaven will give great responsibilities to this person..."
I don’t know how much time passed.
There was no human voice in the granary, only the crackling sound of burning grain.
Looking from the outside, the entire granary was filled with smoke and flames.
Dorgon captured Zhenjing Fort as he wished.
But he did not get a single surrendered soldier from here, nor did he get a single grain of food.
All we got was hundreds of casualties and a devastating scene.
The Battle of Zhenjingbao made Dorgon realize that he had encountered a lot of tough opponents.
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