Chapter 38: Lu Jianying and Hong Chengchou

  Jiao Liang, with a look of having narrowly escaped death, spoke in a hoarse voice: "Originally, when our army entered the city, the Qing soldiers fled in disorder, and we easily captured the Two Rivers Governor's Mansion, taking alive dozens of officials including Lu Jianying. Later, when the main force arrived at the inner city, they found the city gate closed, with Qing soldiers standing guard all around on the city wall. I then ordered someone to shout: let them surrender, otherwise not a single one would be left. Who knew that the Qing soldiers inside the city would take advantage of this and kill their way out."

  Li Yunzhong said with a sigh: "That can't be driven out of town either."

  Zhou Guoyu, who was kneeling beside Jiao Liang, saw that he was ashamed and wanted to die, so he quickly added: "At that time, our army was scattered in various parts of the city, with less than 3,000 near the inner city. However, there were more than 20,000 people fighting outside the city, and there were also cannons firing. The battalion commander He Jianxian was injured on the spot."

  Jiao Liang said: "The end will has inquired about it, the inner city is inhabited by Manchu people, fearing that Your Highness will not let them go, so they fight to the death."

  Li Yunzhong said: "How many troops are there in the inner city? How many Manchu people live there?"

  Jiao Liang said: "I heard from the officials that there are 4,000 banner soldiers in the city, and 4,000 militia. There are also 40,000 Manchu people living here."

  Zhang Sui's eyes narrowed, and he took a deep breath before saying: "The Manchu people inside the city are afraid that we will slaughter them all, they will definitely fight to the death in resistance. This way, the Qing army will have several tens of thousands more dare-to-die troops. Your Highness, think thrice!"

  Li Yunzhong nodded and said: "With the Second Army as the vanguard, the First Army, Third Army, Navy and others will all enter the city and surround the inner city for me."

  Upon entering the city, they encountered Li Xiucheng and others. The total number of troops that entered the city was 80,000, surrounding the inner city. They then summoned Lu Jianying, the Governor-General of the Two Rivers.

  Li Yunzhong saw Lu Jianying's pretending calm appearance, and smiled slightly: "Lord Lu doesn't need to be afraid, I won't kill you, come over and tell us about the situation in the inner city."

  Lu Jianying scolded Li Yunzhong a few words in his heart, but he was also afraid of provoking the enemy army, so he could only pretend not to hear and remain silent.

  Ling eighteen hated the Qing dynasty officials the most. Seeing Lu Jianying being captured and still not knowing the current situation, he kicked him to the ground with one foot and scolded: "You've provoked Grandfather, I'll chop you into ten thousand pieces."

  Lu Jianying was now frightened, although he had made up his mind to die, he still feared being tortured before death. He quickly got up, dusting off the dirt on his body and said: "You'd better kill me, I want to be loyal to the emperor."

  Li Yunzhong saw Lu Jianying afraid of dust on his clothes and thought of something, then burst out laughing.

  Everyone saw Li Yunzhong's hearty laughter, but they didn't understand what was so funny about Lu Jianying's wretched appearance. They also followed with a few laughs. Ling Shiba looked at Li Yunzhong laughing freely and stepped forward to kick Lu Jianying again, viciously kicking him several times.

  Li Yunzhong hastened to pull away Ling Shi and said, "There's no need to hit him again. After all, he is the Governor of Liangjiang and I heard that he was also a teacher of Xianfeng Emperor when he was young."

  The eunuch who was standing beside him asked: "Your Highness, why are you smiling?"

  Li Yunzhong explained with a smile: "I laughed because I thought of the time when Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty during the Ming Dynasty. He was afraid that after being beaten a few times, Huang Taiji would find out and give him his own coat, so the big traitor surrendered."

  Everyone only knew that Hong Chengchou had become a traitor, but they didn't know there was this other story. They also saw Lu Jiuyuan awkwardly stop his movement of being afraid to hit the clothes, and they all burst out laughing together again.

  Lin Dajibanter said, "Is Lord Lu also thinking of surrendering to our Han Wang Gongxia? Gongxia, why don't you take off your clothes and give them to Lord Lu, so he can save face."

  Haha...

  Lu Jianying angrily said: "If you want to kill me, then kill me, why humiliate me?"

  Li Yunzhong sighed: "Hong Chengchou is a Han Chinese who surrendered to the Manchu, but you are also a Han Chinese and would rather die for the Tartars than surrender to me?"

  Lu Jianying said: "The emperor's grace is vast and profound. I haven't had a chance to repay it yet, how can I surrender to the enemy?"

  Li Yunzhong helplessly said: "General, go back and think carefully again later. Now tell us about the situation in the inner city. You don't want me to slaughter all the Manchu people inside the city either."

  Lu Jianying sighed and said, "The inner city was originally the imperial palace of Zhu Yuanzhang when he established the Ming Dynasty. After Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, it was abandoned. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, most of the palaces had collapsed and no longer existed. After our Qing Dynasty destroyed the Southern Ming, we changed Nanjing to Jiangning and transformed the Ming imperial city into a garrison city for the Eight Banners. We set up two government offices, the General's Office and the Commander-in-Chief's Office, within the palace. During the Kangxi period, stone carvings from the imperial palace were taken to build temples on Putuo Mountain, so now the palaces in the inner city are basically non-existent. There are over 30,000 banner people living inside the city, and there are 8,000 soldiers under the command of General Xianghou and Commander Fuzhu of Jiangnan. Among them, General Xianghou is a stubborn and unyielding man who will not surrender easily. I think you should give up on the idea of persuading him to surrender."

  Li Yunzhong said to Tang Zhengcai: "You lead the men to dismantle all the big cannons on the city wall and then pull all the other big cannons in the city to this place."

  "Obey orders!" Tang Zhengcai ordered the naval troops to disperse and take action.

  After instructing Tang Zhengcai, Li Yunzhong turned to Li Xiucheng beside him and said: "You bring people to move all the big cannons outside the city here."

  Li Xiucheng immediately led his troops out of the city.

  Two hours later, two hundred large cannons were set up under the inner city. Li Yunzhong ordered someone to persuade them to surrender again, but seeing that arrows were constantly being shot down from the top of the city wall, he was furious and ordered the cannons to be fired.

  Seeing that it was already late, Li Yunzhong ordered Zhang Suizhi to take command and demand a thorough night attack, not giving the city's defenders or civilians any chance to rest.

  Li Yunzhong arrived at the Governor's Mansion of the Western Two Rivers, planning to make this place his temporary palace. He also thought of Lu Jianying, who was a bit afraid of death but refused to surrender, and felt a little angry. He ordered someone to bring Zuo Zongtang up.

  Li Yunzhong saw Zuo Zongtang with a look of having lost his parents, and scolded: "How can you be so disappointed that our army has taken Jiangning?"

  Zuo Zongtang also cursed: "The rebels don't have to be arrogant, when the imperial army arrives, you will still surrender and lay down your arms?"

  "Hahaha, the imperial army is now wandering far away, watching Jiangning fall without taking action. They're probably praying that I won't attack them. Now you still refuse to wake up and surrender."

  Zuo Zongtang said: "The sacred books I read teach me not to surrender."

  Li Yunzhong patiently said: "Confucius said: The Di and Yi peoples having a ruler is not as good as the Xia people being without one. Under the rule of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the Han people gradually lost their inherent nature. Could Confucius be wrong?"

  Zuo Zongtang said: "The Qing dynasty is not considered barbarian, and besides, the Manchu and Han are one family. They did not plunder like the emperors of the Yuan dynasty, nor do they neglect production."

  Li Yunzhong argued: "The fact that the people of the world are gradually suffering is a fact, why did I raise the banner of justice and the people came to join me! In less than two years, we fought across ten thousand miles without defeat, now we have entered Jiangning, isn't this a sign that the Qing dynasty will perish? This world will eventually belong to us Han people."

  Zuo Zongtang said: "I will never surrender to you, if you kill me today, I will still be remembered in history."

  "Haha, Zuo Zongtang didn't expect you to be so short-sighted. The trend of the world is vast and powerful, those who follow it will prosper, while those who go against it will perish. Even if I fail, since ancient times there has never been a dynasty that did not fall, the Qing will be no exception, it will eventually be overthrown by us Han people. At that time, will they praise me or you? Will you still be able to leave your name in history?"