Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Qianming

Part One: Penghu Storm Chapter 561: Recapture the Capital

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    The battle in the capital has reached its final moments.

    The sound of "Boom-Boom-Boom-Boom-" can be heard endlessly, and the solid iron balls are smashed hard against the outer wall of Beijing with Guangqumen as the core.  The bullet hit the city wall, causing flying stones and flying dust. However, the city walls in Beijing are all made of blue bricks baked with egg whites and glutinous rice juice, filled with rammed earth, and are very strong.  The iron bullet hit the door, making a dull sound.  However, the city gate was made of thick wooden boards nailed repeatedly and covered with iron sheets. It was also extremely strong, so even after being hit by more than ten bullets, it did not cause much damage.

    But Li Dingguo was paying close attention to the power of the "Shenwei Ding" cannon that had just been transported to the battlefield.

    These ten "Shenwei Ding" size guns are all cast very heavy, weighing between 880 and 900 kilograms. However, they still use wooden gun carriages, but each gun is equipped with a sight with a cross cursor.  Gun scope.

    Although the "Shenwei Ding" gun is a smoothbore gun, its accuracy within one thousand meters is quite high, and with the sight of the gun scope, it is much easier to use than a simple crosshair, and the city gates of Beijing are also  It is famous for its tallness and majesty. At this time, it has become the most conspicuous target. Therefore, seven or eight out of ten cannonballs fired by the "Shenwei Ding" cannon can accurately hit the city gate.  Among the cannonballs that hit the city gate, more than half were attributed to the "Shenwei Ding" cannon.

    More than fifty artillery pieces were divided into three batches, and they fired more than ten rounds at Guangqumen in turn. The hits only caused sand and stones to fly randomly on the city wall, and the dust was thick. The soldiers guarding the city only dared to hide under the battlements and did not dare to  The city gate was exposed fifty or sixty times.  Although the city gate of Guangqumen is tall and thick, it is still made of wood. After taking so many blows, it finally began to crack.

    Although other gunners could not see it, the sighting scope on the "Shenwei Ding" gun could see very clearly, so the gunners' confidence increased greatly.  And they all told each other that the city gate was already cracked and that with more force, it could be broken open.

    After four or five rounds of shelling, the city gate was shelled by more than 20 people.  Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.  An iron bullet was hit through the door, and some screams could be faintly heard coming from the city gate. It was probably the remnant of the shell that hit some Dashun Army soldiers behind the city gate.  The gunners of the Huben Guards immediately let out a burst of cheers, and then continued to fire in high spirits.

    The second one and the third one.  .  .  .  .  .  More and more cannonballs penetrated the city gate one after another.  The damage caused to the city gate is also increasing and increasing.  As a result, the door bolt was finally broken and the city gate was opened.

    After the city gate was blasted open, there were only dozens of corpses lying on the ground in the city gate hole, but there was no one left.  And from the beginning of the shelling to now.  It only took about half an hour.

    Li Dingguo couldn't help but lamented that under normal circumstances, if he wanted to break into a strong city like Beijing, he would have to lose a lot of troops. However, after the advent of the firearms age, although the city wall still has a considerable protective effect, if there is no  In the same confrontation with firearms, it is impossible for a solid city wall to withstand the attack of firearms.

    The times are advancing rapidly, and the mode of war is also developing.  .  .  .  .  .

    Li Dingguo immediately gave the order.  The musketeers went out and captured Guangqumen.  After receiving the order, the musketeers of Huben Guards immediately shouted and rushed towards Guangqumen with their muskets loaded with bayonets.

    At this time, the soldiers of the Dashun Army guarding the city had already been frightened by the earth-shattering momentum of the artillery roar just now, and they lost all their fighting spirit.  They all gave in and completely gave up Guangqumen.  The Huben Guards rushed across the Jinshui Bridge on the moat, passed through the Guangqu Gate, and entered the city.

    Opened the Guangqu Gate.  After entering the outer city of Beijing, Li Dingguo was not in a hurry to attack the inner city.  Because it has been proven that the Huben Guards, armed with China's most advanced artillery of this era, can effortlessly attack any city gate in Beijing.  Moreover, Huben Guard has many other weapons that have not been used.  At the same time, Li Dingguo also thought that after he captured Chucheng, the Dashun Army would definitely send troops to fight, so Li Dingguo first sent all the troops into the outer city of Beijing to prepare to face the Dashun Army.

    Sure enough, not long after Huben Guards entered the city, the soldiers who occupied the city tower reported to Li Dingguo that they had discovered an army and came towards Guangqumen to kill them.

    After Li Dingguo heard this, he immediately ordered Shi Weide to the left and Ahu to the right to outflank the rebels from both sides. The other armies stayed here and set up positions in front of Guangqu Gate, preparing to meet them.  Dashun Army.

    Then he climbed onto the tower and commanded the battle from a high position.

    Li Dingguo also saw clearly from the telescope that the Dashun army had been divided into several groups, and they were coming from several streets to fight towards Guangqumen.  And along GuangqumenOn the flags of the people marching on the street, there was a huge word "Liu" written on them. Obviously, the leader of the Dashun Army should be Liu Zongmin.

    It was Liu Zongmin who led the army. At this time, he was having fun in the inner city. He was surprised when he heard that the Huben Guards had broken through the capital.

    Liu Zongmin knew that guarding Beijing was Li Zicheng's lowest bottom line for him. If Beijing was lost, Li Zicheng would not be able to spare him easily no matter how loyal he was.

    Liu Zongmin immediately gathered his troops and attacked Guangqumen.

    However, it took a lot of time to mobilize the troops, so after Liu Zongmin led his troops out of the inner city, he also received news that the outer city of Beijing had been breached by the enemy.

    This time Liu Zongmin gathered about 15,000 horses, and Liu Zongmin was a man who had been on the battlefield for a long time. He divided the troops into five groups and divided them into five streets and rushed toward Guangqumen.

    The group led by Liu Zongmin himself had the largest number of people, about five thousand, and they took Guangqumen Nei Street, which led directly to Guangqumen.  But just a few hundred steps away from Guangqumen, gunshots were suddenly heard.  There was a "crack, crackle, crackle" sound, and the soldiers of the Dashun Army who rushed at the front immediately fell down.  Liu Zongmin couldn't help being surprised.

    Liu Zongmin could only fight head-on head-on. Liu Zongmin stood on his horse and watched. He estimated that the number of Tiger Guards was not large, about three or four thousand. Although the firearms were fierce, he was not completely without a dozen, so  Liu Zongmin also immediately ordered the entire army to attack the Guangqumen position.  At the same time, he sent people to convey orders to other people and horses, asking them to rush to the battlefield as soon as possible and work together to encircle and suppress the Tiger Guards.  Even if they were driven out of the city, it would still be a success.

    Although most of the troops guarding the Guangqumen position were composed of new troops, they were also equipped with a musket battalion. Together with other auxiliary forces, there were a total of more than 2,200 muskets.  Among them, there were more than 1,200 forged rifles.  In addition, the defensive range is small, so the firepower is very intensive.

    And Li Dingguo only left 1,500 people on the battlefield, and the others climbed up city walls, rooftops, high-rise buildings, etc. to form a three-dimensional defense line.

    Because we are fighting in the city.  Therefore, the heavy artillery of the Huben Guards could not be used, nor could they test the power of the newly arrived explosive shells. However, the Huben Guards also had more than 40 small artillery pieces, which were also mixed in the position and launched a fierce attack on the Dashun Army.  .

    For a while, the roar of guns and cannons was heard.  There were also countless screams and wailings mixed in, and the block with a radius of tens of feet with Guangqumen as the core was almost shrouded in thick smoke.  The soldiers of Dashun Army who attacked from various streets and alleys were beaten with corpses and blood all over the ground.  Still unable to rush to the Tiger Guards' position.

    Although the other four groups of the Dashun Army also arrived on the battlefield one after another at this time, the chaos in the team became bigger and bigger. Some people were still rushing forward, some were retreating, and some were hiding, colliding and crowding each other.  On the contrary, it hindered his own actions, and he was unable to concentrate his strength to put greater pressure on the Tiger Guard Formation.

    In fact, the whole battle only lasted for more than half an hour, and the losses of Dashun Army had already exceeded 2,000 people.

    At this time, the victory or defeat on the battlefield had begun to be announced. Although the Dashun Army paid a heavy price in their attack on Guangqumen.  But they still couldn't move the Tiger Guards' position.

    And Shi Weide and Ah Hubu of the Huben Guards have already detoured back to the sides and rear of the Dashun Army's wings and entered an offensive position.

    Li Dingguo could see clearly from the tower, so he immediately gave them an order to attack.

    Ah Hu immediately divided his forces from the left and right and charged out towards the rear and flanks of the Dashun Army.  At this time, the Dashun Army's attention was all in front of the Guangqumen position, and they did not expect it at all.  There will also be men and horses coming out from behind, being caught off guard, and the whole team immediately becomes chaotic.

    The Hu Benwei who attacked from both wings did not use long-range attacks. First, they advanced on one side, and one after another took turns to intervene, firing a volley of guns, beating the Dashun army to the point where they fell to the ground and died.

    At this time, Li Dingguo also ordered the soldiers guarding Guangqumen to launch a counterattack against the Dashun Army. The Dashun Army had a shadow on the Hu Ben Guards, and after the position directly in front was violently blocked, the Dashun Army  The morale of the soldiers was also greatly affected. At this time, they were attacked from the flank again. Therefore, everyone was frightened and had no intention of continuing to fight. Many soldiers began to flee in all directions.  Under such a three-sided attack, the Dashun Army was quickly defeated and completely defeated.

    When Liu Zongmin saw that the situation was not right, he immediately started running for his life.  At this time, he did not dare to flee to the inner city of Beijing, because Liu Zongmin did not know how many troops the Tiger Guards had now, and he had no confidence in defending Beijing, so it was better to run away quickly. Anyway, this is the trick  Liu Zongmin is very familiar with him. Although he has entered Beijing, Liu Zongmin still has a gangster mentality. If he can be beaten, he will fight. If he can't be beaten, he will run away.Anyway, this is how it has been for the past ten years.  When I met Li Zicheng, I told him that he was beaten away by the Tiger Guards. Can you blame me?  Liu Zongmin was also very familiar with the roads in Beijing, so he led hundreds of close guards to escape through the streets and alleys, taking detours to escape out of the city.

    After the Dashun army was defeated, Li Dingguo was eager to seize the inner city of Beijing, so he did not pursue it hard. He left a musketeer battalion to guard Guangqumen, and then commanded his troops to attack the inner city of Beijing.  But this time, it was not Chongwenmen who launched the attack again, but led the army through the Temple of Heaven, arrived on the inner street of Yongdingmen, and headed straight for Zhengyangmen, which leads directly to the palace.

    At this time, almost all the Dashun troops left behind in Beijing were brought out by Liu Zongmin to fight against the Tiger Guards. There were less than 2,000 Dashun troops left behind in the inner city of Beijing. Although there were still more than 200 soldiers guarding Zhengyangmen,  But the soldiers on the tower could see very clearly that Liu Zongmin was missing and the Tiger Guards were rushing towards Zhengyang Gate. Who dared to resist here?

    "Whoops" and they all ran away.

    Therefore, Huben Guards easily opened the Zhengyang Gate and entered the inner city of Beijing.

    After entering Zhengyang Gate, you are directly facing the famous Gate of later generations. Beyond the Gate, you are the Meridian Gate of the Imperial Palace. Therefore, Li Dingguo immediately ordered that the second and fourth regiments were immediately dispersed in teams. In addition to the artillery battalion,  The others split up to clear out the remaining Dashun troops in the inner city of Beijing.

    The Imperial Palace occupies most of the area in the inner city of Beijing and is entered from the **.  After passing through the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the altar of sacrifice, Li Dingguo led the army to the Meridian Gate of the palace.

    After the Dashun Army entered the city, most of the Ming Dynasty¡¯s palace was burned down, and the remaining half also suffered varying degrees of damage.  Only the palace buildings near Wuying Hall are relatively well preserved.  Later, the enthronement ceremonies of Li Zicheng and Shunzhi were held in Beijing, both of which were completed at this time.

    However, after Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he had always lived in the palace, so he kept things tidy.  The previous eunuchs are basically still there, but most of the young and beautiful palace maids have been snatched away by the generals of the Dashun Army at all levels, and the remaining ones are almost all middle-aged and above.

    Along the way, Shi Weide was also amazed. He was watching the battle at Guangqumen.  Shi Weide was shocked by the majestic grandeur of Beijing, but after all, he was only standing on the edge of the outer city of Beijing and could not get a full view of it.

    But after entering the inner city, Shi Weide discovered that the scale of Beijing city was far beyond his imagination. When he arrived at the palace, although most of it was burned down, the remaining buildings and ruins were still intact.  It is not difficult to imagine how majestic and majestic this palace was back then.

    I saw a large group of eunuchs and maids coming out of the Xihe Gate on the left side of the Meridian Gate. They separated to the left and right, as if they were respectfully welcoming Li Dingguo into the palace. The leader was an old eunuch in his fifties or sixties.  Holding a large and beautifully decorated wooden box in his hand, after meeting Li Dingguo, he knelt down respectfully and said: "Slave Wang Dehua, please see your lord. The jade seal is here. Consecrate it to your lord."

    Wang Dehua is a roly-poly talent. He was the last eunuch of the Ming Dynasty's Chief of Ceremonies.  After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he was the first to surrender and was still appointed by Li Zicheng as the eunuch of the palm seal.

    Li Dingguo also walked up to Wang Dehua and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, please rise, but I don't dare to accept it."

    After Wang Dehua came to power, Li Dingguo said: "The jade seal is still a national weapon. How dare I take advantage of the royal family's salary? Please stop mentioning it. However, Princess Kunxing has followed me to Beijing. Please wait a moment."  The prince still gave the jade seal to her for safekeeping, and I have heard that Nanjing officials are already appointing a new monarch and will present it to the new monarch after he succeeds to the throne. "

    Since he is a palm eunuch, Wang Dehua is naturally a human spirit. After listening to Li Dingguo's words, he knew that he would not stay in Beijing for a long time.

    However, Li Dingguo still has the final say in Beijing now, so he still maintained a deferential attitude and said, "Your Excellency, you can learn from your loyalty. We admire you very much!"

    Li Dingguo said calmly: "My father-in-law has given me the reward, but I don't know where the money Li Ni looted in Beijing is kept. Does my father-in-law know?"

    Wang Dehua was enlightened. It turned out that Li Dingguo was interested in Li Zicheng's money, but this was normal. Wang Dehua immediately said: "Our family knows about it, so we will put it in the treasury of the Ministry of Revenue. We will take the general with us right away."

    Li Dingguo nodded. This eunuch was really on the road and seemed to be of great use, so he said, "Thank you, father-in-law." Then he ordered all the ministries to camp and rest outside the palace, and quickly captured Li Zicheng throughout the city.

    The Liubu Yamen is just outside the **. I passed by it when I came here. It arrived in a moment, but when the soldiers of the Hubenwei pushed open the door of the Hubu Yamen, they found that there were many soldiers of the Dashun Army inside. The Hubenwei soldiers  Momentarily unprepared, the first two soldiers who rushed into the household were stabbed to death by several spears. When the other soldiers saw it, they also hurriedly exited the household.

    Li Dingguo alsoHe couldn't help but be startled. He didn't expect that there would be Dashun troops here, but he reacted immediately and immediately ordered to prepare for battle.

    More than 600 muskets immediately fired at Hubu, killing more than a dozen soldiers of Dashun Army in a row.

    Seeing that the situation was not good, the other soldiers of the Dashun Army had to retreat into the Hubu Yamen. The soldiers of the Huben Guards took advantage of the opportunity to follow up and also entered the Hubu compound.  Dashun's army could only retreat to the inner room.

    Wang Dehua also didn't expect that there would be Dashun troops in Hubu, so he was frightened. He was afraid that Li Dingguo would blame him, but he had just witnessed the power of the Tiger Guards, beating the Ming army to pieces.  Dashun's army was already vulnerable in front of the Huben Guards, and they were secretly frightened, with thoughts swirling in their minds.

    However, Li Dingguo did not find trouble with Wang Dehua, and followed the soldiers of Huben Guards into the Hubu Yamen.  After entering the door, there is a large courtyard. Although the space inside is not small, it becomes very narrow after more than a thousand soldiers are squeezed in. The Dashun Army soldiers who stayed in the household department could only retreat to the main hall of the household director.

    And on the ground outside the courtyard, at least seventy or eighty corpses were lying on the ground.

    Li Dingguo looked around and saw that there were probably more than a hundred soldiers of the Dashun Army in the house, but everyone basically had an expression of despair on their faces. This is easy to understand. Although the Dashun Army said it was  They were defending, but they were actually surrounded by merchant legions, with hundreds of black guns pointed at them, and there was basically no way out.  However, surrounded by soldiers of the Dashun Army, there were two people, a man and a woman. The man was about thirty years old, dressed as a scholar, and had a rather handsome and elegant appearance. The woman was about twenty-five years old, with the appearance of a young woman.  She is very beautiful, wearing a red outfit, showing a heroic figure, holding a long sword, standing next to the man.

    Li Dingguo's heart moved, and he immediately ordered the soldiers not to take action for the time being, and then raised his voice: "Is the man inside Li Yan?"

    Sure enough, the young man was startled for a moment and said, "Yes, I am Li Yan. Who are you?"

    "I am Li Dingguo under the command of King Wu Lie!"
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report