I

"kill!"

Yang Zhenqing led his troops into the city. Looking at the burned houses and the Tatar corpses all over the streets, he couldn't help but frown.

He himself also killed Tatar civilians, but it was out of hatred and for military purposes.

And Sai He, who defected, simply killed innocent people indiscriminately, and he also attacked his tribe!

Of course, it is also possible that Saihe did not regard the Tatars in Ximu City as his tribe.

The Eight Banners Army guarding the city was caught off guard by the internal and external cooperation. About two thousand people took advantage of the chaos and fled through the door, heading towards Haizhou in the north.

Saihe's soldiers, however, did not go after him, but stayed in the city robbing and killing people.

Yang Zhenqing was afraid that Saihe would think nonsense and did not dare to order to stop it. Anyway, the people who were killed were Tatars. After seeing Saihe, he only said: "Give me half of the wealth in the city."

"General, just take it!" Saihe became more and more happy.

Yang Zhenqing's words made Sai He feel completely at ease. In his opinion, all the generals in the world are the same, they are just greedy for money and power. The Nanbarbarians want to kill all the Manchus, even those who surrender. This is purely Dorgon's attempt to scare people.

If you have dedicated yourself to the city, you will definitely be promoted in the new Datong Dynasty in the future.

They also took advantage of the chaos and robbed a lot of goods, plus the family's goods, it didn't matter even if they were divided into fields, the money and food could be squandered for several lifetimes.

Yang Zhenqing warned sternly: "Remember, no more looting and killing of Han people!"

"I will obey your orders!"

Saihe accepted the order very sincerely, because apart from those traitors, what did the Han people in Liaodong have to rob of their coats and serfs? If you want to rob, grab the Manchu nobles, all of them will be extremely rich!

The more Saihe thought about it, the happier he became. He looked forward to fighting with the Datong Army. It would be best to grab all the way to Heilongjiang and earn more wealth than he could spend in several lifetimes.

Tribe?

Haha, only the Jurchens living in Muxi (Xinbin County) are Saihe's tribe. No matter how many Jurchens die elsewhere, he doesn't care.

After taking over the city defense, Yang Zhenqing immediately wrote a letter and reported it.

He used to be a hunter in the mountains and had never read a book. He had been fighting in the past few years and only had time to learn two to three hundred words. Even the battle report had to be written by the missionary officer.

After writing the specific process of seizing the city, Yang Zhenqing said to the missionary: "A few more words. Saihe is very ambitious. Dorgon did not suppress him, but he didn't pay much attention to him. He dared to ignore his parents and relatives. And rebelled against the Qing Dynasty. As a Tatar, he attacked Tatar civilians. His soldiers killed at least more than 2,000 Tatar civilians just to rob property. He also killed some Han serfs, not for money. It’s just a killing spree. This person cannot be reused, so it’s best to find an opportunity to get rid of him, otherwise there will definitely be trouble in the future.”

…

Outside Yaozhou City.

Tens of thousands of Datong troops have filled in the moat and are continuously bombarding the city wall.

Dorgon's army was stationed several miles northeast of the city, forming a diagonal relationship with Yaozhou City.

Small battles were fought every day, fighting for some favorable terrain outside the city.

In the military camp.

Dorgon's face was cold, but he pretended to be calm. He smiled and said to Ah Shan: "As expected of your biological son, your father betrayed the Qing Dynasty, your brothers, nephews, and yourself also betrayed the Qing Dynasty. Your second son is a prince-in-law, how can you expect the Qing Dynasty to treat him favorably? Now, your eldest son has killed the Duke of Zhen and captured Ximu City. What are you going to do?"

Ah Shan kowtows crazily: "If you don't teach your children strictly, the offender deserves to die!"

"I think you are very strict in raising your children." Dorgon said sarcastically.

Ah Shan continued to kowtow.

Dorgon said: "The nobles of Manchuria have already discussed it. We will deprive you of all your possessions and hand them over to the command of Alzin. Half of your family's property will be confiscated! As for you, you should be confined to ponder over your mistakes until the war is over." "

Ah Shan collapsed immediately, but at the same time he felt lucky that he was not executed and there was still hope.

"Go away." Dorgon said angrily.

Ashan bowed and retreated, scolding his son ten thousand times in his heart.

Even if you want to defect, just tell me so that dad can make adequate preparations in advance. You ran away without making a sound. Do you want to kill your own father, your brothers, your wife and your children?

Ah Shan was brought back to Haizhou and placed under house arrest. He was looking forward to his son coming to rescue him. He only asked the Datong Army to break through Yaozhou as soon as possible and then capture Haizhou to rescue him.

Dorgon was the only one left in the tent, and he felt really tired.

In the past two years, people's hearts have been dispersed, just like the late Nurhaci period.

A large number of civilians and serfs starved to death due to the forced expropriation of food. Although the nobles and generals were not greatly affected, they felt that the Manchu regime would inevitably fall and began to make their own plans quietly.

Dorgon often missed Huang Taiji. When Huang Taiji came to power, it was also the same situation. How did he revitalize the Qing Dynasty?

At that time, Adahai defected, and Huang Taiji ordered the four Baylors to recover him together. Even without any preparation for punishment, Huang Taiji decided to kill Adahai because Arzin reported other charges.

Should I learn from Huang Taiji and be kind to those who defected?

Perhaps he should write a letter asking Saihe to come back with his troops, and the crime of defection should be forgotten.

But Saihe killed the Duke of Zhenguo and killed Dorgon's nephew. How could he be forgiven for such a serious crime?

The more Dorgon thought about it, the more upset he became. He wanted to learn everything from Huang Taiji, but he couldn't learn it at all.

What would Huang Taiji do when faced with this situation?

Dorgon suddenly had an idea, it would be great if Huang Taiji was still alive. Huang Taiji is taking care of everything, and he can solve any problem, so he doesn't have to worry so much.

Two military orders were issued quickly. One military order asked Hauge to return with the army, and the other military order mobilized the flag soldiers to defend Haizhou.

At this moment, Hu Dinggui looked at Yaozhou City and regretted not tearing down all the city walls.

Yaozhou lies between Gaizhou and Haizhou. When he led his troops to raid Liaodong, Yaozhou was so dilapidated that there were not many people left. On his way back to the army, Hu Dinggui only demolished a section of the city wall due to lack of manpower.

Now that the city wall has been repaired, the Datong Army must capture the city if they want to move north.

Reading the battle report sent by Yang Zhenqing, Hu Dinggui hated Saihe very much. It was not because of Saihe's Tatar status, but because he killed innocent people indiscriminately and regarded human life as nothing.

Saihe was not merciless in killing Jurchen civilians. How many Han people have he killed over the years?

This kind of executioner, even if he dedicated his life to the city and made meritorious service, will be punished in the future!

"Just bear with it for the time being," Li Zheng said. "If we attack Saihe, all the other Tatars will have to fight hard, because even those who surrender will die."

Hu Dinggui said: "I just feel disgusted. To put it bluntly, I would rather kill more people and take down Ximu City myself than regain the city through this kind of people."

Xiao Zongxian said: "To reduce the number of deaths, it is better to die as few as possible. Every soldier of the Datong Army has a wife, children and children at home."

"Don't talk about that," Li Zheng said with a smile, "We have won Ximu City, and Haizhou is within easy reach. Even if the main force of the Tatars cannot be annihilated in this battle, we can send troops to Haizhou at any time in the future. We have already won half of this battle, and next Don't be anxious, just slowly bring down the city wall."

Xiao Zongxian nodded and said: "Looking carefully at the news sent back, the Tatars even ordered the bannermen to hand over more food in order to fight the war. If we delay him for another three months, the Tatars' military rations will be gone, but we have plenty of food."

"Then wait for time." Hu Dinggui said with a smile.

…

Phoenix city.

Naudai personally led his troops out of the fortress, hoping to kill the civilians digging trenches.

The trench has a "Z"-shaped structure, making it difficult for the bastion defenders' muskets, artillery, and bows to hit.

Naodai was halfway out when the Datong troops in the trench stood up and fired. Moreover, everything below the chest is in the trench, and very few parts are exposed to the outside.

"Bang bang bang!"

More than thirty cavalry were shot and killed one after another. Naodai's cavalry also fired back, but the hit rate was negligible.

After the cavalry approached the trench, they were forced to slow down, and suddenly more Datong fire gunners appeared.

"Bang bang bang!"

Another round of shooting, knocking down more than seventy riders at once.

At the same time, long spears protruded from the trench.

Naudai planned to rush to the trench, then dismount and jump into the trench to fight. But the formation in front of him made Naudai's scalp numb, so he had to rein in his horse and return to the bastion.

The Datong army did not pursue them, but stayed in the trench and watched the civilians continue to dig in.

After digging for another two days, we finally reached the outer slope and continued digging upwards along the slope.

Naudai ordered an active attack. If he didn't attack, he would dig through the soil slope.

After a battle, the Eight Banners Army suffered more than forty casualties and the Datong Army suffered six casualties. The Tatars chose to abandon their peripheral fortifications.

Then continue digging, dig through the soil slope, dig through the outer fortifications, and dig all the way to the foot of the bastion.

The Z-shaped tunnel gradually turned into a circular tunnel. Lu Xiangsheng planned to use the tunnel to directly surround the bastion. Then through the circular tunnel, various horizontal and vertical tunnels were dug, so that the Tatars did not know where they were digging tunnels to bury explosives.

Naudai did not dare to stay in the bastion anymore, abandoned the bastion defenders, and rushed back to Phoenix City with his cavalry before the circular tunnel was formed.

His troops were too few to fight outside the city.

"boom!"

A few days later, a deafening explosion sounded, and one of the walls of the bastion was blown down by gunpowder.

Braving arrows and bullets, the Datong Army rushed in through the gap. After killing and wounding more than forty people, they quickly rushed into the fortress.

More than 300 fortress defenders were all annihilated by the Datong Army.

After occupying the bastion, Lu Xiangsheng finally arrived outside Phoenix City and continued to camp and dig trenches.

He never thought about relying on traitors to seize the city. He just followed his own style of play and dug in and buried explosives along the way.

Watching the Datong Army dig in bit by bit and looking at the occupied bastion in the distance, the morale of the Eight Banners defenders in Phoenix City plummeted.

Zhang Fengyan started to take action. He went out on crutches and said he would fight Nanmanzi desperately.

Naodai liked this kind of warrior very much and quickly promoted Zhang Fengyan and gave him 500 Chinese Jurchens to lead.

"Brother Zhang, the Tatars are really in trouble. We are willing to follow you to start a rebellion."

"Tatars are barbarians, not even Jurchens. What kind of Jurchens are they? The Jurchens within the Liaodong Great Wall are the real Jurchens, and those outside the Great Wall are all barbarians!"

"I've long been tired of seeing Tatars. They used to grow their hair like the Han people, but now they have their hair shaved and have pig tail braids. It's so ugly!"

"Brother Zhang, take action quickly. If you don't take action, Phoenix City will be occupied and we won't be able to make any achievements!"

"..."

Lu Xiangsheng was not in a hurry to attack the city, but the Chinese Jurchens in the city were in a hurry to rebel against the Qing Dynasty and submit to the Datong court.