The Ming army guarding the gap in the city wall were covered with iron armor and protected by all their bodies. The General of Hanyang knew that the threat of swords and guns to them was very limited. However, no matter how many layers of armor they were wearing, the impact of the giant wood was not something that the human body could withstand. Even if the armor was still not broken, the people inside would be crushed to their bones and burst their internal organs.

Originally, the general wanted to use a few beams to knock them together, so that the iron-armored soldiers of the Ming army opposite had nowhere to escape. These iron-armored soldiers must be the elite of the Ming army. If a few were hit and killed, the Qing army would be greatly encouraged and restored their morale. In turn, the confidence and fighting spirit of the Ming army on the city wall would also be severely hit.

Unfortunately, the Ming army in the city had already reached the back and had no time to make more preparations. The General of Hanyang ordered the twenty warriors in the personal barracks to carry the beam to rush. The General of Hanyang hoped to open a passage and expand the scope of the two armies' fighting. As long as the warriors of the Qing army could break into the enemy formation, they would have the opportunity to form a chaotic battle, and the brigade of the personal barracks behind could follow them. Once the Ming army on the walls on both sides was killed, the gap was opened, and it would not be difficult to deal with just a few iron men.

When the Qing army was reorganizing, the Ming army on the city wall was also paying attention to the actions of the opposite side. When they saw the Qing army demolishing the house, the Ming army thought that the Qing army wanted to build a simple siege ladder. It was not until they saw the Qing army lift a beam and stood behind the house directly in front of the gap that they guessed the other party's intention.

"Get out of the gap." Deng Ming immediately ordered that the iron-armored soldiers retreat to the city wall and give up a way for the Qing army to leave the city. As time went by, the battle situation became clearer and clearer. Even if the Qing army took this gap, it would not be possible to turn the tables. The enemy's intention was to break through rather than counterattack, and it was even more impossible to eliminate the Ming army that broke into the city. In this case, Deng Ming was unwilling to let the soldiers resist the enemy's giant trees, unwilling to let the guards resist with their flesh and blood, nor would he let other Ming soldiers and auxiliary soldiers go to the wall to fight the beams of the house. From the city wall, we can see that a Ming army was already rushing over outside the city. It seems that Yuan Zongdi had learned about the Qing army's attempt to break through in the city, and that they would not have a great chance of escape.

Li Xinghan, who was guarding the gap, did not obey the order.

Because the gap is limited in width and the front line is very short, the Qing army, although there are many people, cannot exert its manpower advantage. However, if they make a clearance and let part of the Qing army rush out of the city, they may attack from inside and outside the city wall, occupy the gap, and use the slope of the gap to siege the Ming army's flags on all sides. Moreover, Li Xinghan is worried about the fighting spirit of other Ming army friendly forces. If they see that the defense line is lost and the Qing army besieges on all sides, it is hard to say whether they will flee in all directions.

Li Xinghan stood the shield underground, stood steadily, supported the shield with both hands, and at the same time he called the person behind him to hold his waist, intending to resist the opponent's dying struggle with all his might. In Li Xinghan's vision, as long as he held the beam and prevented the Qing soldiers from colliding into the formation, the Qing army would still not be able to exert its advantage in distributing troops.

Deng Ming shouted at Li Xinghan on the city wall, saying that the reinforcements outside the city would arrive soon and there would be no need to force them, but Li Xinghan was unmoved. Since the reinforcements would arrive soon, the enemy would naturally not have the time to collide for the second time, so they must hold on tightly at this last moment.

Next to Li Xinghan, Wu Baoping and several other guards also raised their shields and formed a row of shield formations with him. Under their greetings, a large number of Ming soldiers held back several of their armored soldiers from behind, obviously not planning to take a step back.

"Sir, they won't let you be in danger." Zhao Tianba said to Deng Ming.

Zhao Tianba called a few archers and musketeers to gather together, and gathered the archers on the other side of the gap to his side. Zhao Tianba said to them: "When the Tartars came up with the beam, we will all shoot together, and only be allowed to hit the person on the right."

The Qing soldiers under the city wall were placing troops. The Ming army stood at a high place and saw clearly that there were ten enemy soldiers on each side. Zhao Tianba told the musketeer: "You deal with the first one, you deal with the second one..." One after another, Zhao Tianba pointed at each enemy on the right and assigned an attacker, and he himself ranked last, that is, the eighth enemy soldier. This enemy soldier had the longest distance and had the most cover in front of him. Zhao Tianba left this most difficult target for himself.

Although Li Xinghan was wearing double-layer iron armor and a shield, twenty people were carrying the beam at full speed and hitting the beam. Even the shield and armor could not be stopped. Li Xinghan was lucky enough to die and was seriously injured and vomited blood. Zhao Tianba's plan was to attack the enemy on one side of the beam at the same time, and knock down the enemy on the right. The enemy lost balance and naturally could not hit the target. However, the distance was too close, and Zhao Tianba was not sure that the enemy would stop. Maybe the opponent would be crazy at the critical moment of life and death and could still stumble and bump into it.

General Hanyang knew that this might be his last chance, so he attached great importance to this last blow. The soldiers who demolished the beam had all been recruited, and another twenty sword and shield soldiers stood by the side of the team, raising their shields to protect these companions carrying the beam. When the beam crashed into the enemy formation, these cover soldiers would also break into the Ming army together.

While the Hanyang General was carrying out his final preparations and instructing the suicide squads how to act, many people suddenly heard the northeast direction of the Qing army.

"The prefect opened the east gate and ran away! Brothers, run quickly, the east gate is open!"

After hearing the shouts, the Qing soldiers couldn't help but turn their heads and look in that direction.

The Wuchang soldiers were also shouting along. Many Wuchang soldiers who were responsible for covering the private barracks gave up their positions and ran eastward with the shouts. When passing by near the private barracks, they shouted and called on people to break eastward together.

The guerrillas in the despair of the personal barracks also lit up after hearing the shouts. They turned around and looked east. There was indeed a green flag erected there on the East City Tower.

"Master General!" The guerrillas immediately asked the general to fight. The personal military camp fought to the death, but there was still a great chance to escort the general to Dongcheng.

The General of Hanyang also hoped that the news was true, so the Qing soldiers would be in a desperate situation. Just before him, more and more Wuchang soldiers heard the shout and turned east, some of which were led by officers. Desperate people always wanted to catch the last straw.

"It must be fake." General Hanyang made a quick judgment. Knowing that the morale of the army was in chaos and could not be stopped, he did not want to catch the straw because the opportunity did not exist at all: "The city gate blocked by a big stone cannot be opened in a short while!"

This must be the thieves disturbing the morale of the army. There is a lake outside the East City. Even if the city gate can be opened, it will not choose the east gate. Why not come to the south gate? The general sighed. If An Lu soldiers opened the East City to break through, they would still be able to escape as quickly as possible. How could there be time to run over half of the city to inform the Wuchang soldiers?

Affected by the chaotic atmosphere around, many soldiers from the personal barracks also became turbulent. The unmoved general of Hanyang immediately shouted loudly and ordered the officer to control the soldiers immediately. He decided to attack the gap.

"Master!" After hearing the general of the personal military camp, he agreed that the gate of Dongcheng may not have been opened, but he felt that it was better than here: "Now the thieves are focusing on the south of the city. When we arrive in Dongcheng, we will climb the city tower and we will definitely send Dacheng out of the city."

The guerrillas felt that the situation was irreversible, but as long as the personal military camp resisted resolutely, they could always rely on the city tower to persevere for a period of time so that the Hanyang General could escape from the city.

"No," General Hanyang refused without hesitation. He knew that even if he brought some confidants out of the city, he had to keep the main force of the personal military camp to resist. In order to gain more time, the guerrillas in the personal military camp must be left to command the battle: "Let's go together and fight to the death to break out of this gap."

The general guessed correctly. The guerrillas in the personal barracks did indeed plan to cut off the rear and seek more escape opportunities for the benefactor. He sat up from the general's personal barracks and as the benefactors rose step by step, the water rose higher. It was precisely because of this loyalty that he could take the position of the personal barracks command.

"Masterman..." The guerrillas had to persuade him again.

"I said I would go together." The general got angry. Most of the officers in the personal barracks were old men who had followed him for many years. He couldn't bear to leave these people behind and escape alone: ​​"You are all dead, what's the point of living? You are gone, and I can't avenge you anymore, so don't mention this matter!"

The guerrilla's eyes heated up and tears almost spurted out. He nodded hard, then turned around and gathered the soldiers desperately, preparing to attack the gap again.

After appeased the soldiers, the soldiers from the personal barracks lined up again, and in the middle was the suicide squad carrying the beams. The soldiers on both sides held shields to cover them. Hundreds of soldiers from the personal barracks followed closely behind the team, preparing to launch a charge together. These were the last little force that the Hanyang General could still control. He no longer planned to try to clear the Ming army on the city walls on both sides of the gap. Once the Ming army's iron armored soldiers broke through the blockade, the general asked his soldiers to squeeze out the city from the gap as soon as possible, and how much they could go out was counted.

"After leaving the city, don't worry about others, rush south with all your might. If you are separated, go back to Wuchang to see you." The general asked the soldiers to follow the officers who could see him immediately, and didn't care whether he was his original boss: "There must be not many thieves outside the city, and we will definitely be able to rush over in a group."

After encouraging his morale, he glanced at the iron-armored Ming soldiers who raised shields in front of the gap, and the General of Hanyang was about to order an attack.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

A gong suddenly came from the east, followed by a trembling war drum. Many red flags appeared at some point.

The sudden appearance of the Ming army's red flag and deafening war drums surprised the Qing army, including the General of Hanyang, who did not expect that the Ming army would be killed so quickly. The General of Hanyang hurriedly adjusted his formation and prepared to deal with it. He didn't know how many Ming army they were killed. If it was He Zhen's main force, everything would naturally be over, but if it was just a vanguard of hundreds of people, he might have a chance.

The Hanyang General estimated that the enemy soldiers would pounce on him soon. After seeing the enemy's strength clearly, he would leave enough people to resist for a while, and the rest would continue to try to break through. But after waiting for more than ten seconds, the Ming army still did not come, and the war drums were hit harder and louder.

"It's broken." The general suddenly woke up. This should be a trick to doubt the enemy. The opponent beat the drum so fast, but there was no fierce attack with a strong momentum. It was obviously just trying to interfere with himself, so that the Qing army could not hit the mental assault gap.

After the Hanyang General reacted, he planned to attack the gap in the entire army. Unfortunately, even his personal military battalion was seriously shaken at this time. The drums behind him were so urgent and loud. Although the general kept shouting and asked the soldiers to concentrate on the front, many soldiers couldn't help but look back, and always felt that a large number of Ming troops would shout and come out at any time.

"The thief retreated!" Zhou Peigong suddenly screamed, dancing with excitement. He saw the iron-armored soldiers who were originally waiting for battle near the gap suddenly put away their shields and retreated from the position.

In contrast to the ecstatic Zhou Peigong, General Hanyang felt a sank when he heard this. He hurriedly looked at the gap, but the Ming army's iron-armored soldiers there were quickly withdrawing from the gap, and disappeared without a trace in a blink of an eye.

These iron-armored soldiers disappeared at this time, which only means that they are no longer needed to continue to block the gap.

Just as the General of Hanyang was worried, a large number of Ming army soldiers crossed the broken walls and walked out of the gap. Just now, because of the small number of people, the Ming army insisted on guarding the gap in the city wall, shortening the front line as much as possible, and at the same time, using the advantages on the walls on both sides to block the Qing army. However, now the Ming army crossed the city wall without any scruples and entered the open space in the city.

There were not many Ming army soldiers coming in, and they looked only a few dozen or hundreds. The positions they occupied were not large. They only had a short section of streets, standing in three rows against the city wall. But this behavior dispelled the last bit of fighting spirit of the Qing army opposite. They were surprised and wondered how many Ming army troops were still behind the city wall. They only knew that the other party was no longer worried about the gap being lost, but began to act and entered the city from here to attack their own troops.

The Ming army, who only heard the sound of drums and disappeared, also appeared. It seemed that there were only 40 or 50 people in the Ming army. They no longer beat the drums, nor did they walk into the Ming army formations next to the city wall, but stood swaggeringly on the side, forming a semi-encircled formation against the Qing army.

The soldiers who were carrying the beam of the house let go one after another, letting it land heavily on the ground. The members of these suicide squads drew their blades and formed a circle with their companions from other personal military camps, surrounding the general in the center of the circle, preparing to use the surrounding houses to carry out the final stubborn resistance.

From the side, there were dozens of Ming troops led by Mu Tan. He was ordered to find Liu Tichun, but the latter pursued the Anlu Prefect and had already killed the city center. The city was in chaos, and soldiers of the Ming and Qing armies fought everywhere. Mu Tan finally asked all the way and found He Zhen. After hearing that Deng Ming was in danger, He Zhen immediately turned around and killed him back to the Kuokou, and at the same time sent dozens of Mu Tan's subordinates to let them go back to the Kuokou first.

When Mu Tan rushed back, the Hanyang General's personal barracks had already arrived at the gate and launched an attack. There were only dozens of people around Mu Tan and could not break through the Qing army's defense line, so he had to hide in the nearby city and wait for the opportunity.

While hiding in the nearby urban area, Mu Tan captured several Anlu soldiers who were also hiding here. These people begged for mercy from the Ming army. Mu Tan had a sudden inspiration and asked them to go out and shout at the Wuchang soldiers, spreading rumors that the Anlu governor had moved the stones that blocked the East City and successfully escaped from the city. These Qing soldiers were all locals of Zhong Xiang. Even if the Hanyang General successfully broke through, they would not escape. Whether the Wuchang soldiers could escape was meaningless to them. Instead, it was more important to make meritorious service for the Ming army, striving to save their lives and the safety of the whole family. After receiving Mu Tan's order, these Anlu soldiers ran out and walked back behind the Wuchang soldiers, shouting loudly.

The morale of the Wuchang Green Camp soldiers was on the verge of collapse. They fought to resist He Zhen because they had nowhere to escape, so they could only hope that the personal military camp would open a bloody road, giving them the opportunity to escape from Zhongxiang. After learning that a road to life appeared in the East City, the Wuchang soldiers retreated eastward one after another.

Although the plan was successful, it seemed that the Qing army in front of the gap had not yet given up on the idea of ​​attack. Mu Tan immediately called the Ming army to bluff at the flank of the Hanyang General. Their beating and drums greatly disturbed the morale of the Qing army. The Qing army launched a decisive charge towards the gap with just one breath. Mu Tan kept creating chaos behind them, interfering and distracting, and letting most of the breath that the Qing army had gathered, and could no longer accumulate confidence and courage.

The more than 100 soldiers sent by Yuan Zongdi from the gap were sent by Yuan Zongdi. When he received the urgent news from Deng Ming, Yuan Zongdi had only more than 100 soldiers around him, and they all sent over in one breath. These soldiers drove into the city in a big way, showing fearlessness in order to delay more time. Now the large troops outside Yuan Zongdi's city are being mobilized.

Deng Ming, standing on the city wall, could see that Mu Tan was just bluffing, but after the other Wuchang soldiers who were covering the camp fled, He Zhen's troops were coming unimpeded and could arrive soon. As soon as He Zhen arrived, the other party would completely lose the opportunity to break through.

After the soldiers from the personal barracks formed a round formation around the general, He Zhen's troops finally arrived near the gap. Seeing Ming troops rushing out from the streets and alleys from all directions, the General Hanyang knew that he had no hope of escape.

"Protect your lord!" Guerrilla shouted loudly. He picked up a spear and stood in front of the general, with blue veins on his neck exposed.

"I heard that Deng Ming's true identity is a royal family in the previous dynasty. This is just his pseudonym?" General Hanyang asked the people around him.

Although the common people near Wuchang did not know about the rumors about Deng Ming's life experience, civil and military officials heard about it.

Several aides with a dead face nodded, and the general asked again: "Which king is he in the previous dynasty?"

No one, including Zhou Peigong, can answer this question of the General of Hanyang.

After seeing the Qing army's defensive formation, the Ming army did not step forward to attack, but slowly surrounded the Qing army and surrounded them. After the two armies confronted each other for a while, another group of reinforcements arrived in Yuan Zongdi. More Ming troops appeared on the city wall. They also brought some archers to guard the Qing army on the city wall.

"Kill one to earn enough money, kill two to earn one."

The soldiers in the personal barracks were already in despair, and only their guerrillas were still yelling.

General Hanyang looked back and looked behind him. The chief military advisor, who was less than 30 years old, was already weak and pale, and was about to fall to the ground. General Han smiled bitterly and pulled out the sword at his waist.

"That's right!" Zhou Peigong, who had already had soft bones and weak muscles, jumped up again when he saw this and shouted: "The commander will lead by example, and his morale will be greatly boosted. He will surely be able to fight for a bloody path."

"Scholars." General Hanyang did not have any angry expression this time, but only looked at Mr. Zhou for the last time, then turned around, suddenly pushed away the generals and soldiers in front of him, walked to the front row of the team alone, shouting loudly at the city wall:

"It's Deng Ming on the other side, how dare you come out and see him?"

After hearing this shout, Deng Ming held the red flag and walked to the wall calmly, looking down at the Qing army. He looked at the Hanyang General for a moment and said slowly: "I am Deng Ming. Are you willing to surrender?"

"So you're so young." General Hanyang looked at the young face on the city wall. From a distance, he seemed to be even twenty years old.

"Your Highness," the general shouted loudly to Deng Ming: "The subordinates of the criminal generals were originally ordinary people, but they were the criminal generals who insisted on their own and wanted to surrender to the Qing court..."

When Deng Ming heard the words of the General Hanyang, he nodded. He was always mistaken for the royal family by different people. Now he was too lazy to explain, and it was not the time to explain. Deng Ming knew that the other party was worried about his surrender. People in this era had similar concerns. He immediately replied loudly: "As long as the general put down his weapons, I promise that those who surrender would be exempted from death."

"A word is determined?" General Hanyang waited for this sentence and immediately asked loudly. Since the other party was a noble royal family and promised in front of everyone, the chances of his subordinates' survival might be greater.

"Never break your promise." Deng Ming promised again.

The soldiers of the Ming and Qing armies who were confronting each other suddenly relaxed their faces. The Ming army knew that the battle was about to end, and the Qing army soldiers were determined to die. Although they don’t know if Deng Ming will keep his promise, there is still a glimmer of hope.

The general turned around and shouted to his personal soldiers: "Your Highness is kind, you must not forget your highness's grace of not killing today."

Then the general looked at the city again: "There is a cause of injustice and a master of debt. The person who betrayed Huang Ming has his own strength to bear the serious crime. I hope Your Highness will not break his promise." After shouting this sentence with all his strength, he suddenly raised his sword and slashed his neck, cutting his carotid artery. The blood suddenly spurted more than half a person high. The general's posture lasted for two seconds, and then he rushed forward heavily and fell to the ground with a straight thrust.

Seeing this, the guerrillas from the personal military camp screamed, and pulled out a dagger from their waists. Without saying a word, they cut their throats and squirted blood to the ground.

The generals of the Qing army and the personal barracks committed suicide by guerrilla suicide. Zhou Peigong, the generals' divisions, staff, and the remaining officers and soldiers of the personal barracks all gave up their weapons and surrendered to the Ming army.
Chapter completed!