kvmb Chapter 656 What are you two waiting for?
Chapter 656 What are you two waiting for?
As the son of a rebel, Geng Jimao knew very well that the Ming court would never let him go, and he had only one choice.
That is to follow the Qing Dynasty wholeheartedly. He did not know what happened in Guanshan. He only saw Prince Rui and Prince Li returning with only a few thousand remaining soldiers.
As the deputy commander of the Plain Yellow Banner of the Eight Banners Han Army, even his father had no right to interfere too much, so Geng Jimao naturally did not dare to say much.
Before leaving, Prince Rui only told him that he had the responsibility to defend the city. If he could hold out for a month, he could not only evacuate on his own, but also inherit his father's title - Prince Huaishun.
This was a huge temptation for Geng Jimao.
His father Geng Zhongming was stripped of his title due to defeat in battle, which always resentful to Geng Jimao. Shang Zhixin, who was by his side, was the legitimate son of his father's good friend, Prince Zhishun Shang Kexi, and he also received the same promise from Prince Rui.
However, another good friend of their fathers, King Gongshun Kong Youde, died in battle with his son, and his title was directly revoked.
"Yuanji, our chance has finally come." Geng Jimao said to Shang Zhixin. Yuanji is Shang Kexi's courtesy name.
Geng Jimao's face was full of confidence.
The two men had previously been angry because their father did not take them to the battlefield. If they did not go to the battlefield, they would not be able to gain military merit, and their father's title could not be inherited.
Later, after learning of the Qing Dynasty's defeat in the interior and the death of their father, the two were very relieved.
However, since their father's death, their position in the Qing Dynasty has become even more embarrassing.
The position of deputy governor was promoted by Prince Rui before he left. Before that, the two were just low-level generals, at most guerrilla generals in the Ming court.
But now, as long as he defends the city for a month, he will get the title. How can Geng Jimao not be happy?
However, Shang Zhixin frowned, completely lacking Geng Jimao's excitement:
"Jimao, I see that His Royal Highness Prince Rui doesn't look very happy, and he hasn't seen His Majesty. Could there be some problems on the front line?"
"Well, I have thought of this, but you and I are both aware of the strength of the Qing Empire. In this battle, the Qing Empire has almost put all its strength into it.
Even if we encounter temporary setbacks, it's nothing to our Great Qing Empire. No one knows the Ming court better than the two of us, right?"
Geng Jimao is still very confident that their opportunity will come.
Shang Zhixin thought it made sense. Although the Ming court was the orthodox one, it was too corrupt. No matter what, it would not be a match for the emerging Qing Dynasty.
But Shang Zhixin glanced outside the city and frowned again:
"But what about these Ming troops outside the city?
Huang Degong came over to persuade us to surrender, but he only said one sentence before retreating. He didn't continue to persuade us to surrender, and it seemed that he had no intention of attacking the city. What exactly did he want to do?
Generally speaking, if persuasion to surrender fails, the natural thing to do is to immediately attack the city to defeat the enemy.
But as Shang Zhixin said, after being hit by a volley of arrows from the city wall, Huang Degong returned to his army without even saying a word.
The Ming army then began to retreat.
After retreating two miles, they actually started to set up camp. Soon, smoke rose from the camp...
……
On the other side, Zhang Shikang took off his helmet and threw it to Hong Xiucheng:
"The soldiers have been very tired recently. Pass on my military order. Take advantage of the next two days and give me a good rest."
With more than a dozen scouts sent out, the defenders of Yizhou City would never exceed 10,000, which was a temporary relief for the Imperial Guards.
The Guards have been very tired these days. They have not had a moment of rest since the army arrived at Guanshan.
First there were three days of trench digging, which was purely physical work, and then there were three days of heavy attacks by all the elite troops of the Jianlu.
Although they won the battle in the end, the Ming army also suffered heavy casualties.
According to detailed statistics from the past few days, in just three days of attack and defense, more than 8,000 Guards were killed and more than half were wounded.
In the forced marches and pursuits in recent days, hundreds of people have been killed, and the casualty ratio has exceeded 20%.
Fortunately, the Guards had already been transformed into a strong army with conviction, which enabled them to maintain orderly disbanding and high morale even when they were so exhausted.
Sun Weifan and others did not refute what they heard, and no one suggested attacking the city.
Since the day of its reorganization, the Guards have abandoned the previous method of building city walls with human lives. Although Sun Weifan and others are not afraid of death, it is better to avoid death.
Everyone knew what the Grand Marshal was waiting for.
The next two days were unusually peaceful in the Guards camp. Except for the scouts and necessary patrols, the rest of the soldiers just ate and slept, enjoying a rare period of comfort.
The more the Imperial Guards acted like this, the more uneasy Geng Jimao and Monk Zhixin became in Yizhou City.
After Yizhou was besieged, news could no longer be transmitted. Apart from deploying more stringent defenses, the two could only stand on the top of the city wall and watch blankly every day.
It was not until the morning of June 20th that the sharp-eyed Shang Zhixin saw reinforcements coming from the southwest of the Ming army camp, and then he hurriedly sent someone to call Geng Jimao.
Geng Jimao drank a lot of wine last night due to excessive pressure. When he was called over, he was staggering and climbed up the city wall while adjusting his clothes and armor.
At this time, the Ming army outside the city wall had already assembled.
Wu Sangui's resentful army was in the front, with a phalanx of musketeers at the rear and spearmen and shieldmen on both wings to protect them, and thousands of light cavalry were raiding the formation.
As the sound of war drums rang out from the Guards, Wu Sangui waved his hand, and the resentful army automatically split into two sides, leaving a large open space in the middle.
After a while, the artillery battalion of the Ming Dynasty Guards finally appeared.
The Guards galloped for several days, but the artillery battalion could not keep up. Even with the help of many war horses, they were still two or three days behind.
Qi Dazhu traveled day and night, but only managed to bring back a hundred cannons today.
But this is enough for Yizhou City.
Qi Dazhu gave Zhang Shikang a brief report and ordered the artillery battalion to form up immediately.
Thousands of war horses pulled the huge artillery carriage to the designated location, and the gunners began to fix the gun carriage in an orderly manner.
The entire process took place in front of all the defenders of Yizhou City.
Although the Qing Dynasty's red cannon was quite powerful, it had only just been developed, and the first batch of cannons was almost all captured by the Guards.
There were not many artillery pieces in Yizhou City, and they were all old French cannons captured from the Ming court in previous years.
The experienced Qi Dazhu had already figured out the range of the enemy's artillery and chose a position just outside its range.
He did it so blatantly and openly, and this was the confidence given to him by firearms.
About two quarters of an hour later, the one hundred heavy bronze cannons were finally deployed, and Zhang Shikang once again came to the outside of Yizhou City wearing golden armor.
He squinted his eyes and looked at Yizhou City, at Geng Jimao and Shang Zhixin on the city wall, as if to say:
"I'm waiting for the artillery, what are you two waiting for?"
……