Southern Ming Rebel Army

When Bolo's 120,000-strong army arrived at the city of Suzhou, the city was silent, with only the flag with the words "Great Ming Restoration" erected on the top of the city swaying in the wind.

Yesterday afternoon, several soldiers of the Eight Banners rushed out of the Qing army camp and shot an arrow at the tower to surrender. The letter said, "The people of the north and south, Henan, Hebei, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shandong and Shanxi have shaved their heads, changed clothes, and submitted to the imperial court. I think it is not easy for you to live. If you surrender, you can farm in the countryside, do business in the city, or work in various industries. The Qing Dynasty will not move an inch in the city. If you are stubborn and refuse to change your ways, when the army enters the city, everything will be destroyed together."

But Yang En's reply was also very clear and concise. After reading it, Meng Jun praised it highly, "Suzhou is a country of rites and music, a city of loyalty and righteousness. It is only at the time of reform that it is said that even after a change of dynasties, the old clothes should not be changed. How can there be an order to shave the hair and change clothes? This is very offensive to the people of the world. Therefore, the old and young in the towns would rather die than obey. We repeatedly sent troops to besiege the city and defeated their troops. The loyal armies of various towns in Suzhou rose up upon hearing the news, and the people in the city united to defend the city. Since you want to gain the world, you should love and support the people, win the hearts of the people, and put the people first. Why do you slaughter, rape, rob, burn, and plunder so often? These atrocities have angered the heavens and the people, and are shocking. Even if all the bamboos in the Nanshan Mountains are used up, the crimes are not yet recorded. Even if the waves of the East China Sea are broken, the evils are hard to exhaust. Even if a million people come to the city, Suzhou is determined to defend to the death and will never think of living in disgrace."

Bolo saw the reply and sneered, "It is not a pity for a mantis to die. Pass the order and hold a military meeting."

………………

Meng Jun stood on the city wall of the north gate, looking in the direction of the Qing army camp. He had a strong premonition that the Qing soldiers would attack the city tomorrow. After preparing for such a long time, he had no confidence whether he could hold on. However, Meng Jun had made up his mind that even if it was inevitable, he would hold on until the last moment.

The city of Suzhou was destined to be sleepless tonight. This was even more frightening than the last time Li Chengdong besieged Suzhou. Until midnight, Meng Jun fell into a drowsy sleep.

I don’t know how long I slept, but Meng Jun was suddenly awakened by a burst of rumbling cannon fire.

Meng Jun straightened up suddenly. The Qing soldiers were attacking the city. Meng Jun got off the bed and opened the door. The guards Gao Yi and Yu An were standing outside the room waiting for him.

Meng Jun saw the two standing outside the door and asked, "Gao Yi, have the Qing troops attacked the city?"

Gao Yi shook his head and said, "Not yet. The Qing army has 25 cannons in the north city, and the cannons have just started to bombard the north city."

Meng Jun nodded and said, "Let's go up to the city and take a look."

Halfway through the journey, a sharp whistling sound came from the air from far away. Meng Jun looked up and saw a solid black shell flying into the city from the city wall and smashing straight into a house. After a violent bounce, the house was already in a mess. Cries for help were heard all around, and in an instant, the house collapsed.

Meng Bian, who was in charge of the city's public security, quickly arrived with a rescue team, and the surrounding neighbors also worked together to rescue the people.

"Let's go." Meng Jun did not stay for too long. Surrounded by Gao Yi and others, he headed towards the north city. The closer he got to the city wall, the more serious the damage to the houses along the way was. Moreover, the Qing army not only bombarded the city, but also launched rockets from time to time, and fires broke out in the city from time to time.

What moved Meng Jun was that the people of Suzhou city did not sit and wait to die, everyone was doing what they could, putting out fires, saving people, the young and strong guarding the city, the old and weak guarding their homes, they helped each other, and there was no panic. All the citizens resisted the order to shave their heads, and were determined to die for the cause. Most of the chivalrous people were butchers, and they would die as the people wished.

When Lin Shiqi reached the top of the city wall, he saw Meng Jun coming. He was not surprised at all. He walked up to Meng Jun and said, "Commander-in-chief, the Qing army is setting up their formation. It looks like they are preparing to attack the city today."

"Yeah." Meng Jun nodded and didn't say anything. He looked outside the city. At this time, there were several loud bangs of cannons. One of the shells hit the city wall directly, causing the wall to dent slightly. One shell flew into the city, and several shells fell into the moat, splashing high columns of water.

In the Qing army camp, tens of thousands of soldiers cheered loudly, and the sound was so loud that it reached the top of the city, making the Suzhou defenders blush and their mouths dry.

Under the banner of the Qing army, Bolo smiled confidently, then waved his hand and said, "Attack the city!"

At this time, the shouts of the Qing army suddenly became louder, and Meng Jun and the defenders on the city saw dense Qing soldiers rushing up like a dam bursting.

Meng Jun looked at the Qing army coming in all over the field outside the city. In the front were the infantrymen holding rattan shields, followed closely by a large number of civilian laborers and auxiliary soldiers. The infantrymen who were clearing the deer horn chevaux de frise and carrying the trench bridge were also rushing towards the city wall.

Seeing the enemy troops within range, the artillery on the city walls opened fire one after another. The rumbling sound of the cannons resounded through the sky, and the rising white smoke made Meng Jun's eyes sting a little.

Looking closely, several shells hit the ground and ricocheted, leaving traces like plowed land, but the traces were left with broken limbs and scarlet blood all over the ground.

The catapults behind the wall were also throwing stones at the Qing army outside the city. Stones fell from the sky like raindrops and hit the Qing army's formation.

Bai Yongfu's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. The corners of his mouth twitched twice. He looked back at the sword of the Eight Banners Supervisor, gritted his teeth, waved his hand and said, "Come on, I will!"

A Qing army infantryman was carrying a trench bridge and running hurriedly. The stones fired from the city hit the trench bridge directly, and the wooden trench bridge was immediately broken into two pieces.

At this time, the Qing army had rushed to the edge of the moat under the double bombardment of artillery and catapults, and began to clear the antlers, chevaux de frise, and trenches. The defenders on the wall raised their bows and arrows and shot. The dense rain of arrows shot down a large number of Green Camp soldiers. The Green Camp archers under the city also fired back at the top of the city, but because they were in a dominant position and had the protection of the city wall, the hit rates of both sides were completely incomparable.

Time passed by minute by minute, and corpses were scattered all over the ground outside the city. The Qing army's infantrymen who had made the first charge had suffered heavy losses. Many of them had been frightened by this Shura scene and had lost their minds. They fled in panic to the back of the battle formation, and were then mercilessly beheaded by the Eight Banners Supervisory Team. The severed heads were also impaled with wood and stood in front of the Green Camp soldiers like trees. The Eight Banners Supervisory Team shouted from time to time, "Anyone who flees in battle will be killed without mercy..."

The second batch of Qing troops lined up again, this time with a large number of infantry, but behind the formation were soldiers pushing a large number of cloud chariots and siege towers and battering rams.

Lin Shiqi shouted loudly, "Give me artillery to attack the Tartars, bows and arrows to shoot quickly!"

The archers on the city wall drew their bows and shot arrows, which whizzed down from the top of the city wall, and the screams from below the city became one continuous sound.

At this time, a cannonball from the Qing army hit a battlement not far from Meng Jun. Two Meng army archers were hit in the face by stones and were bleeding profusely. Then someone quickly carried the injured defenders off the city wall.

The battle was still going on. Bolo looked at the top of the wall without any unhappy expression on his face. Attacking a city was not easy. If the defenders were determined to hold on, it would not be possible to capture it in a few days. Jiangyin City had already given Bolo a memorable precedent, but Bolo had no doubt about taking Suzhou.