Chapter 315: Under Tongzhou City
In Tongzhou City, Luo Keduo and Luo Kedehu led 3,000 elite troops from the Bordered Blue Banner to defend the city. They controlled over 20,000 Han troops, and Tongzhou City was now a fortified city. Their goal was to buy time for Dorgon to successfully evacuate the capital. Without supplies, the Qing would struggle to recover.
Luo Keduo looked at the Ming army below the city and said, "I didn't expect the Ming army to be so powerful now! They dare to deploy their formations so recklessly in the wild. Give me a thousand cavalrymen and I will charge!"
Luo Kedehuan shouted angrily: "Charge! Didn't you hear what the brothers who came back from Xi'an said? Their firearms are now much more powerful. If we charge in, we will be courting death. Let them fight Han people against Han people. We will wait for the right time to act!"
The Jianlu's impression of the Ming army remained stuck on their pre-entry impressions, unaware of the strength of the Ming army before them. Even the defeat at Hanzhou City hadn't been a big deal, as Hanzhou itself was outnumbered. It was natural that they couldn't resist, but Tongzhou City was a different story. They had spent four months raising the walls and widening the moat. Traps were everywhere outside.
You know what? The Jianlu were indeed hunters. Those traps had caused the Kenan Army much suffering, killing thousands of men and horses. General Zhou and Mao Jiu gnashed their teeth in hatred. These traps were impossible to defend against. Each one was dug in an unexpected place, like where everyone expected it to be covered by grass, or on a road covered by loose soil.
No! There weren't any. Several traps were actually right next to the rocks. A soldier noticed a different color in the dirt on the road ahead and thought it was a trap. He went around it and saw many large rocks on the road ahead. He figured there couldn't be a trap there because the rocks were heavy, and the traps, which were supported by wooden sticks, wouldn't be able to withstand the force. So, naturally, he assumed there wouldn't be a trap there.
The result! The traps were on either side of the stone, and only after the horse and the rider fell in did they realize the stone was between the two traps. There were also countless real and fake traps. The fake ones were easy to spot, but if you dodged them, you would fall into the real ones.
Mao Jiu cursed, "Damn it! You dogs! Sooner or later I'll catch you and chop you all to death!"
General Zhou said calmly, "Don't worry, there are plenty of opportunities! I've sent people to the west to set up an ambush. When the city falls, the Jianlu cavalry will never be able to return to the capital if they escape."
"But there are hot air balloons in the sky watching us! The Jianlu are not stupid either!" Mao Jiu asked.
"First, they don't have telescopes. As long as they are well camouflaged on the ground, they won't be able to see clearly. Second, each hot air balloon has a limited observation range. At most, the team can go around a little further, as their targets are so obvious. Third, it doesn't matter if there are places that cannot be bypassed, as we can just go there at night. The Jianlu just got this thing and they don't know how to use it yet!" Zhou Shuai said, patting Mao Jiu's shoulder.
Mao Jiu had a look of "I see." Meanwhile, someone in the city was looking down from the top of the city walls. He felt like he had seen the Ming general somewhere before, but he was just too far away to see clearly.
This man was none other than Li Deliang, who had stayed in the capital. He had been there, thinking that it didn't matter who became emperor. They could still live their lives as usual. But what happened? Li Zicheng left the capital after just over a month. Because he held no official position, the rebel army didn't give him any trouble.
Then the Jianlu arrived, and he was in for a rough patch. Not only was his house ransacked, but someone reported him to the government, claiming he was a former escort and a formidable martial artist. As a result, he was drafted into the Jianlu army and sent to defend Tongzhou City.
Li Deliang was now a small team leader, in charge of over 200 men. However, his men often didn't have enough to eat, though they were barely starving. He wasn't much better off, either, eating only until he was sixty percent full at best.
Li Deliang thought to himself: "I might as well go with my husband!" Now that I'm in this state, I'm probably going to die here. He looked at the compound bow in his hand. It was the one my husband had given me. Luckily, the Jianlu didn't know what it was and didn't take it away.
After losing more than 2,000 people, the Kenan Army finally cleared the obstacles, arrived at the west gate of Tongzhou City and deployed its troops.
Luo Keduo didn't care whether the artillery could hit the Kenan Army or not, and ordered the artillery to fire. Several shells were fired, but they didn't even hit a hair.
Luo Kedehuo stopped him and said, "What are you doing? Firing now won't expose the target! The Ming army's artillery can reach very far, you are giving orders blindly! Now organize a supervision team immediately. When the Ming army's artillery stops, we can drive the people up the city wall."
"Yes!" Luo Keduo agreed and immediately said to the messenger, "Tell those Han soldiers to prepare to leave the city wall now!"
Li Deliang followed the other soldiers down the city wall and hid in the soldier caves. Don't underestimate the wisdom of the ancients; they learned how to survive during the war. They dug countless soldier caves under the city wall to avoid the Ming army's artillery fire.
Luo Keduo, holding a saber, led the supervision team to patrol under the city wall, while Luo Kedehu organized the army to build fortifications in the city, preparing to let the Han army block the Ming army step by step after the Ming army broke in, leaving enough time for the Eight Banners soldiers to escape back to the capital.
Boom boom boom, the sound of cannons rang out. The top of the city was ablaze with fire. Luo Kede saw several Han soldiers stunned. He whipped them and said, "The Ming army's artillery fire can't reach here, hurry up and work!"
After a few whips, the Han soldiers immediately became obedient. They didn't dare to look around and could only continue to work honestly.
Seeing that there were no more people on the city walls, General Zhou ordered, "Attack the city!"
The messenger waved the command flag, and the Kenan Army began to march forward and the army began to press forward.
When Luo Keduo heard that the artillery had stopped firing, he immediately became alert and ordered the supervisory team to start driving these Han troops to the top of the city.
A Jianlu soldier cursed, "Hurry up! Hurry up! Don't dawdle!" Then he saw a Han soldier was a little slow, so he went up and chopped the Han soldier to the ground with his sword. Then he chopped off the Han soldier's head with another sword.
He lifted the head with his knife and said, "See? This is the fate of those who are afraid of fighting!"
The Han soldiers felt a chill in their hearts. They couldn't defeat the Jianlu, but they couldn't defeat the Ming army under the city either! They were like rats in a bellows, getting bullied from both sides. Zhu Bajie looked in the mirror and found himself neither human nor human.
When the Han Chinese scaled the city walls, they discovered they were riddled with holes and ravages. Li Deliang thought to himself, "How can my flesh and blood withstand the attack of the Kenan army below?" He couldn't die here; it seemed his only option was to flee.
Li Deliang called over his trusted confidant Luo Zhuo and said to him, "Brother! Do you want to live or die?"
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