Chapter 3586
Chapter 3586
Chapter 3586
On the way to Liuhe County, Shi Chengwu received a call from Hangzhou. Regarding the telegram's words "assess the situation and make your own decision", he understood that the Executive Committee had agreed to the action he led, but would not provide more practical support to Nanjing.
This was a disguised way of asking him to control the scale of the operation, not to expand the war without authorization, and not to let chaos occur in Nanjing.
Shi Chengwu could understand this. After all, after occupying Nanjing last year, Hai Han's investment in the former Yingtian Prefecture area far outweighed its gains. It took a huge amount of money and grain to stabilize the situation and allow society to gradually return to normal operation.
If Shi Chengwu were to launch a massive attack on the Ming Dynasty and put Nanjing back into a wartime state at this time, all previous policy measures would be in vain, which would definitely not be a result that the Executive Committee would like to see.
But no matter what, since he has chosen to send troops, Shi Chengwu certainly does not want to return empty-handed. The two counties in Jiangbei, which originally belonged to the jurisdiction of Yingtian Prefecture, must be taken first.
With these two counties as a springboard on the north bank of the Yangtze River, it will be much easier to attack Chuzhou and Fengyang to the north or Luzhou and Anqing to the west than it is now with the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.
Of course, the current goal is to take over Liuhe County as quickly as possible at the lowest cost. Many people here have found ways to escape after the rumors of war began a few days ago, and the county town located by the Chu River is probably the only fortress in the county that can resist the Hai Han army.
The prototype of Liuhe County had already been in existence during the Han Dynasty, but the county that the Hai Han army saw was actually rebuilt in recent years. To be precise, it was rebuilt on a large scale in the ninth year of Chongzhen, more than 20 years ago, when the original earthen city was rebuilt into a brick city with a circumference of nearly nine miles and a height of about 25 feet.
The outline of the county town is relatively straight only in the south adjacent to the Chu River, while the other three sides have multiple corners, like a western bastion. There is also a moat outside the city that connects to the Chu River. As far as the county town is concerned, it is definitely easy to defend and difficult to attack.
However, facing the Hai Han army that was already at the gates of the city, the people in the city did not seem to have the determination to fight to the death.
A few days ago, when people were fleeing because of rumors of war, there were still some people who were hoping for the best, thinking that the Hai Han army might just be bluffing and would not really cross the river to attack the small Liuhe County.
Some wealthy landlords and gentry, of course, did not want to abandon their homes and property to flee, so they chose to move into the county town to wait and see what would happen. If Hai Han did not attack in the end, then the large amount of unowned land in the county that had been left by the refugees could be used as an opportunity to complete a wave of mergers and acquisitions.
Wishes are beautiful, but reality is cruel. Just when they had been waiting for many days and thought that the storm was about to subside, the Hai Han army still attacked, and on a larger scale than they had imagined. A huge fleet consisting of dozens of warships actually went upstream from the Chuhe River and reached the county seat.
Zhou Sen, the magistrate in charge of the city, is a proponent of war, but under the current situation, he is not optimistic about the prospects of resistance.
Now that the reinforcements from the rear have not arrived, the defenders in the city, together with the local militia and the young and strong men temporarily recruited, total only about a thousand people, and only two or three out of ten of them have actual combat experience, and most of them are newcomers who are stepping into the battlefield for the first time.
The weapons of the defenders were mainly traditional swords, guns, bows and arrows. They could barely muster less than a hundred sets of armor, and the muskets and cannons combined could only arm dozens of people.
Compared with the powerful Hai Han army outside the city, the gap between this lineup is indeed obvious. Everyone knows that the defenders are definitely no match for the Hai Han army.
County Magistrate Zhou climbed up the city wall and took a look. He also realized that the situation was not good. When he was hesitating, Hai Han soldiers outside the city started shouting with iron loudspeakers, demanding that the defenders in the city immediately open the city walls, lay down their arms, and surrender unconditionally to the Hai Han army in order to save their lives and property.
If they continued to resist, the Hai Han army would bombard the county, and if they surrendered at that time, they would not be able to get such good conditions. Zhou Sen was still somewhat loyal to the court. After hearing Hai Han's request, he went down the city wall and summoned several of his confidants to explain his affairs. He did not intend to live after the city was captured.
At this time, a group of people hurried over. They were all gentry who had taken refuge in the city. It was obvious that they had also heard the shouting outside the city and wanted to ask Zhou Sen for advice.
Their purpose was very clear, which was to persuade Zhou Sen not to act impulsively and to negotiate with the Hai Han army outside the city to resolve the current dilemma.
Zhou Sen sighed, "The Hai Han people want us to surrender unconditionally, but if I surrender without a fight, how can I continue to live in shame?"
An old man advised, "Master Zhou, what you said is wrong. Forget surrendering. In recent years, there have been many officials who changed their allegiance and joined Hai Han. All of them are still alive and well, and some of them are highly valued by Hai Han. If Master Zhou is willing to follow suit, I'm sure Hai Han will be happy to accept talented people like you."
Zhou Sen sneered, "Mr. Gu, you are the headmaster of Liufeng Academy and have read the books of sages all your life. How can you say such outrageous words?"
Before the old man surnamed Gu could reply, a middle-aged man with a short beard beside him took over the conversation first: "Master Zhou, since the Hai Han army has left the people in the city with a chance to survive, why don't we make good use of this opportunity to survive? As the saying goes, if you have the green mountains, you will never lack firewood. Let's try to get out of this predicament first, and then we can make other plans."
Another fat man in a black silk robe called out, “Sir Zhou, we can’t fight. If a war breaks out, the exchanges between our two countries will be cut off. We still have to do business with Hai Han!”
Zhou Sen said angrily: "Mr. Zhang, Manager Li, all your remarks are crimes of treason and betrayal!"
After saying this, he called a trusted confidant and ordered him to go to the top of the city wall immediately and denounce the Hai Han army's invasion.
These were all well-known local figures. If Zhou Sen wanted to punish them, it might cause more dissatisfaction in the city. All he could do at the moment was to make his attitude clear to them. There was no way he would surrender to the enemy outside the city.
During the stalemate, a gunshot was heard, and a man was quickly carried down from the top of the city wall. It was the confidant that Zhou Sen had sent to rebuke the Hai Han army. Perhaps he cursed a little too harshly, and was shot in the head by the Hai Han army outside the city, with half of his head shot off.
Zhou Sen became furious upon seeing this, and ordered his men to invite Captain Wang, who was leading the troops in the city, to come and order him to immediately order an attack on the enemy forces outside the city.
Captain Wang took a look at the corpse next to Zhou Sen and shook his head to reject his request: "Sir Zhou, the enemy and I are too far apart in strength. We cannot fight this battle."
Zhou Sen said: "If you don't move, I will report it to the court and accuse you of being afraid of fighting!"
Captain Wang sighed and said, "Master Zhou, why are you doing this? If that's the case, then fine, just follow my orders!"
Several of Captain Wang's personal soldiers responded in unison. Everyone present suddenly became nervous. Just as they were about to persuade him, they heard Captain Wang say, "Catch Zhou Sen for me!"