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Volume One: Fierce Battle in Changsha Chapter 151: To Kill or Not to Kill

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    As Li Kaifang's troops successfully broke into Jubao Gate with the support of Bai Zetang in the city, the Taiping Army divided its forces and rushed to the other city gates. Shuixi Gate and Hanxi Gate in the west were successively captured by the Taiping Army. Taiping troops outside each gate swarmed into the city, and outside Yifeng Gate  The Qing army blocking the gap quickly collapsed under internal and external attack.

    Seeing that the momentum was not good, Zhang Bingyuan, the leader of the regiment in the city, wanted to retreat to the inner city and continue to hold on. However, he was intercepted and killed by the Taiping Army of Li Kaifang's army on the way. Zhang Bingyuan was stabbed dozens of times and died. This was considered an advantage for this traitor.

    Lin Fengxiang and Li Kaifang, who controlled the south gate and west gate, continued to clear out the remaining enemies in the city in two groups, attacking all the way to the Drum Tower, searching for and killing all the way from Jinchuan Gate to Shence Gate, and passing through Chengxian Street directly towards Xiaoying.

    A group of young guardsmen led by Su Ji followed the men's camp and charged, but they were assigned to attack the Huangjiatang front line.  When Su Ji led a group of young soldiers who were shouting with excitement and rushed to the streets of Huangjiatang, they saw an official sedan with a blue nylon top running away in panic surrounded by a group of Qing troops. Su Ji saw it and shouted sharply: "There is an official sedan."  , the person sitting inside must be a high official! Come and kill me!"

    There were only about ten Qing troops and sedan bearers accompanying the official sedan. When they saw a crowd of red Yaya people coming, they immediately threw down the sedan and fled in all directions. Only one official stayed, helped the people out of the sedan, carried them on his back and fled.  .  How could the official escape from Su Ji's group of capable young soldiers when he was carrying one person on his back?  After escaping not far away, the two of them were caught up by Su Ji and others. They chopped them up with knives and then died in a heap.

    Su Ji stepped forward and took a closer look. The person the official was carrying was wearing an ordinary robe, but it was not an official uniform. He couldn't help but feel a little depressed, and said that the person he was killing was not a high official.  At this time, the young soldiers who caught up caught a few soldiers who had escaped and brought them over. After questioning, the soldiers said that the man sitting in the sedan was Lu Jianying, the governor of Liangjiang.

    After hearing this, Su Ji was overjoyed. He never thought that he, a poor beggar boy, would one day be able to kill a governor of Liangjiang?  Looking back, it was as if he was still dreaming.  After ordering more than ten of his men to take Lu Jianying's body back to report his merits, Su Ji led his men and horses and continued to charge forward.

    Nanjing was the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties. The city wall was divided into an inner city and an outer city. The inner city was the original palace. Like Beijing, the inner city was where the Manchus, bannermen, and garrisoned Eight Banners troops could live. So the people of Nanjing also  The inner city is called Mancheng.  After the Taiping Army broke through the outer city, they quickly cleared away the Qing troops in the outer city and surrounded the city.

    The reason why Nanjing is so densely populated is that it was the old imperial palace of the Ming Dynasty, so the city walls are extremely strong and the defenses are complete.  Because the Taiping Army pursued a policy of indiscriminate killing of bannermen wherever they went, the bannermen in the city knew that they would not be spared, so they had no choice but to fight to the death with the Taiping Army. Therefore, the battle throughout the city was unprecedentedly tragic.  After Li Kaifang, Lin Fengxiang, Luo Dayou and other troops arrived at Mancheng one after another, they attacked from all sides. Artillery and firearms were fired at Mancheng as if they were free, and they organized several strong attacks. However, the bannermen in the city counterattacked wildly, and even Jianzhuang  Women all went up to the city wall to fight with the Taiping Army, and the elderly and children also shouted and cheered on the city wall. The Taiping Army launched three consecutive strong attacks, but were defeated. Two thousand people were killed. The corpses of both sides were piled up with the city, and the top of the city wall was soaked red with blood.

    Xiao Yungui, Zuo Zongtang, and Hong Yun'er led the main force of the Taiping Army into the city from Zhengyang Gate and Chaoyang Gate. The main force of 20,000 Taiping troops rushed to the city walls with three thousand kilograms of cannon.  Generals such as Li Kaifang, Lin Fengxiang, Luo Gangyou, etc. caught him and reported the situation of the siege. They all asked whether they could persuade the bannermen in the city to surrender.

    Xiao Yungui became a little embarrassed. He looked at Zuo Zongtang and Hong Yun'er beside him, and saw that Hong Yun'er was also a little unsure. Seeing that even the elderly and children were guarding the city at the top of the city, it could be seen that the bannermen were determined to die.  Determined to defend the city, according to the three-miss-one tactic in the art of war, leaving a glimmer of hope for the enemy is the key to conquering a fortified city. Otherwise, it will be a tragic situation of killing one thousand enemies and losing eight hundred.

    Hong Yun'er said with an unbearable look on her face: "Should I agree to the bannermen and surrender to avoid death?"

    Xiao Yungui was also a little moved. He looked at Zuo Zongtang and said, "Sir, this inner city is difficult to fight. If we don't recruit one or two to surrender, we can also reduce the damage to our army. What do you think, sir?"

    Zuo Zongtang twirled his beard and said calmly: "The King of the West is determined to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore the Han system. The King of the West himself once said that visible braids are easy to cut, but invisible braids are difficult to cut. The King of the West thought that we Han people were ruling the Qing Dynasty.  Next, what is missing most?"

    Xiao Yungui was taken aback for a moment and then said thoughtfully: "When the Qing Dynasty went south, most of the Chinese elites who dared to resist were killed, and those who survived were those who endured humiliation and eked out their lives. After China fell into the hands of the enemy, they even forced the Han people to shave their heads.  It has been more than 170 years since we changed clothes, and the Han people have forgotten what the Han people's clothes look like, let alone the spirit of the Han people for thousands of years."

    Zuo Zongtang nodded and said solemnly: "Yes, the Manchus now regard themselves as Chinese orthodox, but the Manchus are always a minority, and we, the Han people, who number tens of thousands, are willing to bow their heads and be slaves for more than a hundred years. The Manchu Qing Dynasty relies on their  Conceited by arrogance, on the other hand, we Han people areFor more than a hundred years, I have become accustomed to being a slave and a maid, and I have lost the spirit of the Han and Tang Dynasties that strong men who offend me will be punished no matter how far away they are.  "At this point, Zuo Zongtang pointed to the inner city and said: "To be honest, there are tens of thousands of bannermen in the city who have never met us and have no grudges against us personally. But they are bannermen and they are the original rulers.  We are waiting for the banner men, but we must kill them!  Why is this?  Just because the King of the West wants to rebel against Manchu and prosper the Han Dynasty, he cannot talk about benevolence and righteousness at this moment.  "

    Zuo Zongtang looked at the Taiping soldiers around him and said: "These soldiers are all good men of the Han family, but they still lack the contempt for the bannermen and the Manchus, and they lack the courage of the Han people to look down on the world during the Han and Tang Dynasties.  ! On the other hand, the banner people have always looked down on us Han people. If these banner people were let go today, they would think that we Han people are still easy to bully. If we surrender in this battle, the majesty of the banner people will still be there. Then we used to  If you kill the bannermen, you will kill them in vain. I think that when we first raise the army, we must kill the bannermen until they lose the prestige of the masters, so that we, the Han people, can regain the spirit they have lost for more than a hundred years and tell them who is the owner of this land.  Master! We must kill until the bannermen will be afraid when they see our flags, and will not have the courage to become our enemies! Wait until the world is settled, then it is time to spread benevolence and righteousness and appease them, instead of even seeing the bannermen resist.  If they are fierce, they should turn to benevolence and righteousness. Did they speak of benevolence and righteousness when they slaughtered the rebels from all over the country? Did they speak of benevolence and righteousness when they oppressed the Han people? Did they speak of benevolence and righteousness when they entered the customs? "

    Xiao Yungui was shocked. He understood Zuo Zongtang's words and was not surprised why Zuo Zongtang, who always loved and cared for the people, would say such words. He was always a Han, and what he cared about was the Han people. Historically, he played a key role in the pacification of Shaanxi and Gansu.  During the chaos, he had no mercy on the Hui bandits. He would always kill to stop killing and use violence to stop violence.  Although it may be unfair to the innocent people who were killed, the reality is like this. Without this unfairness, more people may suffer unfairness, and Zuo Zongtang has now joined the Taiping Army to expel Hu  Slave, how to restore the Han family's land and mountains, how to let the banner people get rid of the prestige of the master, how to rebuild the prestige of the Han people, it seems that killing is inevitable.  Just like Zuo Zongtang said, if you release these bannermen and allow them to surrender without killing them, the bannermen will only think that they have strong resistance. These Han people are afraid, so they let them go, but they will not think that the Han people are benevolent and righteous.  This kind of benevolence and righteousness of the Chinese people seems to have been bullied by the world. They thought that the Chinese were easy to bully. This is still the case in later generations. They regard the Chinese people's benevolence and righteousness as weakness and can be bullied. But that is not what Zuo Zongtang wants.  What he wants is the benevolence of the strong.

    After thinking about this, Xiao Yungui looked at Hong Yun'er. Although the four-eyed girl still looked a little unbearable, she also silently agreed with Zuo Zongtang's statement. If the Taiping Army did not have the courage to fight against its former master, failure would be inevitable.  Not far away.  At that moment, Xiao Yungui drew out his long sword and shouted sternly: "Tell all the soldiers in the army to let these pure monsters in the city wash their necks and wait for death. Tell these pure monsters that those who dare to resist our Taiping Saint Soldiers will only die! All the artillery teams in the entire army will be killed."  Bring them here to me, and even if you use up all the artillery shells, you will still capture the inner city!" The generals all blushed when they heard this, and no one mentioned the matter of surrender, and they all loudly accepted the order.  After that, they each arranged their war affairs.

    The Taiping Army brought all kinds of artillery into the city. Hundreds of large and small artillery surrounded the inner city and fired them day and night. All kinds of newly developed artillery shells were also used. This place became a testing ground for testing these artillery shells.  , even the craftsmen from the craftsman battalion arrived in front of the formation, directly watched the explosion effect of the artillery shells, made improvements on the spot and then test-fired.

    Although the banner soldiers and civilians in the inner city resisted fiercely and tenaciously, they could not withstand the Taiping Army's huge manpower and artillery superiority.  Xiao Yungui sent new soldiers from each army into battle in turns, using wheel tactics to consume the Qing army and at the same time temper the new army's fighting will.  In this way, the fierce fighting in the inner city continued for several days. Under the continuous attacks of the Taiping Army, some people actually died of exhaustion while defending the city.

    As the banner soldiers and people in the city became increasingly tired, the food, gunpowder and various defensive utensils in the city became increasingly scarce. An atmosphere of despair enveloped the city. During the daily battles, the cries of the bannermen in the city could always be heard.  , there are also people suffering from mental breakdown jumping from the top of the city to commit suicide every day.

    On the fifth day, the Taiping Army concentrated artillery fire on a city wall, which collapsed. The Taiping Army took the opportunity to launch a fierce attack and broke through the city wall in one fell swoop.  The Taiping Army broke into the inner city. General Xiang Hou, the commander-in-chief of the Qing army, Jiang Ning, committed suicide, Huo Long, the deputy commander-in-chief, died in battle due to exhaustion of force, and Fuzhu Longa, the admiral of Jiangnan, died in battle. The remaining Qing generals were all killed by the Taiping Army.  The Taiping Army killed more than 8,000 people and injured nearly 10,000 people in this battle, which was more casualties than the total number of casualties in all previous battles since Changsha was divided. It was because the Taiping Army hated the bannermen that they began to hunt and kill the bannermen throughout the city and posted notices.  Yun said, whoever captures the bannermen will be rewarded five taels of silver.  So all the Han people in the city rose up to search and kill the bannermen. Almost all of the more than 20,000 bannermen were killed. The Taiping Army in the West Palace of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom fully occupied Nanjing after paying a heavy price of 20,000 casualties.
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