With the cooperation of Wang Deyu, the 10,000 army captured Deqingzhou without any effort, and the first shot of the personal expedition was successfully launched.?                                                                                                           �

He conquered the city of the city and rewarded him according to his merits. Facing Wang Deyu, the "first hero" of the city, Zhu Youlang, although he despised his character in his heart, he was still polite on his face. He personally gave him a seat, respectfully called him a gentleman, and also gave him a third-level official title, rewarded him with some gold, silver and silk. Wang Deyu was flattered and thanked him for his gratitude. He happily returned to the mansion.

Looking at Wang Deyu's gradually disappearing back, Zhu Youlang's face was gloomy, and he was a thousand gold medals. It was not the time to move these traitors and lead the party. How could he forget his ancestors and betray his ancestors without a price? It would be not too late to settle the score with them in the autumn.

After pulling out the nail in Deqingzhou, the retreat of the army in person was smooth. They could attack and defend when they retreated. The food route was unobstructed and the food was transported relatively safe. After leaving hundreds of troops to recruit surrender and accept the rebellion, Zhu Youlang's monarch and ministers worked tirelessly, and his troops were aimed directly at Zhaoqing, an important city in eastern and western Guangdong.

Zhaoqing is connected to Qingyuan in the east and Wuzhou in the west. The northern part is Lihu formed by the Beiling Mountains and the ancient Xijiang River channel. The central part is an alluvial plain of river valleys. The eastern and western ends are overlapping peaks to lock the river flow, forming Sanrong Gorge, Dading Gorge and Lingyang Gorge. It is a veritable pass and one of the few strong cities in Guangdong. It is the largest nail stuck between Wuzhou and Qingyuan. If the army in the personal expedition wants to go to Qingyuan to rescue the Sanzhong Yi army, it must first capture Zhaoqing to ensure the safety of the rear.

The guard of Zhaoqing was Du Yonghe, the confidant general of Li Chengdong. There was a Li Chengdong's partial army in the city, with about 3,000 troops stationed, including more than 300 veteran soldiers from Li Chengdong's headquarters and more than 2,000 green camp soldiers.

When Du Yonghe learned that there were only about 10,000 Ming troops invading Guangdong, he breathed a sigh of relief and stopped panic. While sending people to Li Chengdong, he summoned the gentry in the city to strengthen the walls and clear the fields, arranged city defenses, and waited for assistance.

Three days later, the army personally marched to the south of Zhaoqing. In two months, the offensive and defensive changed positions. This time the Ming army surrounded the Qing army.

After arriving in Zhaoqing, for two consecutive days, the army was setting up camps and setting up positions, and did not rush to attack the city. Qing general Du Yonghe and Zhaoqing prefect Chen Zhiji and other civil and military generals did not know what the Ming army was selling.

The sunset shone on the top of the city, and they looked down at the city together. There were Ming army camps ten miles south of the city, and the camps were covered with cavalry, wandering around, monitoring the actions of the city.

"I heard that the emperor of the pseudo-chao emperor was personally expeditioned. When the battle of Wuzhou City, his subordinates were quite capable. Can we stop the soldiers and generals in Zhaoqing?"

The prefect of Zhaoqing, Chen Zhiji, was also a surrendered official. At the end of the second year of Longwu (1646), after Longwu passed away, he supported Zhu Youlang with other ministers, and was later sent to Gaozhou Prefecture as the prefect. After Li Chengdong attacked Gaozhou, he felt that the Ming Dynasty was over, and he chose to surrender for his wealth, life and future. At this moment, facing the former emperor, he felt an instinctive fear in his heart.

Deputy General Du Yonghe was displeased after hearing this. He frowned and said, "Mr. Tai. Must not increase the ambition of others and destroy his own prestige. Zhaoqing is an important town in western Guangdong. It is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Moreover, there are still three thousand elite soldiers in the city. The emperor of the pseudo-chao wanted to defeat the city with only 10,000 troops. It's a joke!

Besides, as long as we hold on for ten days and half a month, we will return to the rescue when the military lord pacify the bandits in Qingyuan. When the reinforcements arrive, the puppet emperor will retreat. If we overestimate our abilities and continue to attack the city, it will be even better. Let’s attack with the military lord and destroy them on the spot!”

"Yes, yes, General Du said very well." Chen Zhiji nodded angrily and concealed his embarrassment.

In Zhaoqing City, the status of civil and military officials was reversed. As the confidant general of Guangdong Admiral Li Chengdong, Du Yonghe was sent to guard Zhaoqing, a military city, to serve as a party. It was a great trust in itself. Although Chen Zhiji was a civil servant and respected the system, he was just a demoted official and was not in the eyes of the powerful military leader Li Chengdong. Although Li Chengdong himself was also a surrendered general, he looked down on those civil officials who had no character and had no good expression for them. Under the rule of Li Chengdong's army, the demoted official status was not high. Therefore, although Chen Zhiji was the prefect of Zhaoqing and served as a vassal, he had no say in Zhaoqing. Everyone was the military general Du Yonghe had the final say.

Zhaoqing began to be a city wall. In the third year of Zhenghe of the Song Dynasty (1113), brick city was rebuilt outside the city city. Inside, there were two rammed earth walls, with a widest place reaching six zhang. The city was twelve miles around, with a total of 1,256 zhang, three zhang and six zhang, two zhang and three zhang and five zhang, and a width of 2,30 zhang, which could accommodate twenty or thirty soldiers alongside. The entire city was convex, with a total of six city gates, and three zhang and one city gate in the south city facing the West River, one city gate in the east, west and north.

Chen Zhiji stood behind Du Yonghe and looked around. Nanxun Gate was extremely strong as the main gate of Nancheng. There were also a urn city with three or four red cannons on the top of the city.

Looking at the moat several meters wide under the city wall, densely packed with deer antlers, horse-resistance, and large-scale city-guarding equipment such as yaksha and wolf-toothing on the city wall, Chen Zhiji patted his chest and finally overcame the fear in his heart. He had some confidence.

What the Qing army could not imagine was that the reason why the Ming army did not attack outside the city was mainly waiting for subsequent cannons. The red and barbarian cannons often reach thousands of pounds, which was very inconvenient to transport them. In case of siege battles, especially in a strong city like Zhaoqing, it would be unimaginable if there were no red and barbarian cannons and only rely on swords, bows and crossbows and other cold weapons. Normally, it may not be possible to attack for half a year.

When six six-pound Portuguese Red Cannons and five thousand-pound Franchise aircraft were successfully transported, the war drums of the Ming army camp sounded, and ten thousand guards lined up to go out of the camp in turn, setting up a siege formation thousands of steps outside the southern city.

Before the attack began, Zhu Youlang planned to kill the artillery at the top of the Qing army to clear obstacles for the attack.

"Aim at the cannon at the top of the city!" The cannon whistle chief Cara, a Portuguese who was proficient in firing cannons, ordered loudly.

The six-pound red cannon and the thousand-pound Franc aircraft aimed at the place where the Qing army was carrying the cannons on the city.

"ignition!"

As the commander Wu Lingqi waved the flag, eleven artillery sprayed out a stream of white smoke. Accompanied by deafening sounds, eleven shells flew towards the top of the city.

Four of them were shot high, passing by the city and falling into the city. Three shells were hit low and hit the walls of the city wall. The city wall swayed, and the others hit the battlements on the city tower. The solid female wall was smashed like tofu, and the splashed bricks and stones flew around, making a jingle sound when hitting the cannons. The Qing army gunners hurriedly threw themselves to the ground. Even so, many were still injured by the bricks and stones, and the city was suddenly filled with wailing.

The Qing army was not willing to be outdone. The only three or four red cannons on the top of the city began to counterattack one after another. These old red cannons were almost all four-pound cannons, with not a long range. They only had the advantage of high terrain, which posed a certain threat to the artillery positions of the Ming army under the city.

However, under the siege of the Portuguese six-pound cannons of the Ming army and the fast-firing Franc aircraft, three of the Qing army's red cannons were hit one after another, and they broke up in silence. Du Yonghe was so scared that he quickly dragged the last red cannon and hid it in a safe area.

After successfully killing the Qing army's artillery, the Ming army's artillery did not stop firing, but continued to bombard the city at the south city, causing rocks to splash on the city, and bricks and stone fragments to fly in the air, smashing the green camp soldiers on the city to cry and cry for their parents, screaming and screaming endlessly. The Qing army without artillery was like a tiger without teeth. Facing the Ming army's roaring shells, they could only avoid and cannot fight back, and they were frustrated.

"Blow up those two Tartars to death!"

Jiao Lian laughed and said, feeling unspeakable. In the Battle of Wuzhou a month ago, he watched the city walls bombarded by Qing army artillery, but there was no way. That coward, now the feng shui is changing, and it is the turn of the Qing army to be abused, so he naturally has to enjoy the process.
Chapter completed!