The Ming Dynasty: Starting with bandits, it swept across the land.

Chapter 26 Entering the City

The defending troops, who had seemed quite resilient before the city fell, scattered and fled after the city was breached.

Ultimately, the defenders were mostly able-bodied men, ordinary people. With the city walls protecting them, and not having to face the blades directly, things like shooting arrows and throwing stones weren't a big problem.

But without that protective wall, their true nature was exposed.

Yang Chongwang led his men to the top of the wall and cut down the Ming Dynasty's flag, to which the people below cheered.

As Master Qin was gathering the wounded together, Li Chengye caught a strong man who hadn't managed to escape in time.

"Where are the doctors in this city?"

The strongman was terrified and could only beg for mercy.

Li Chengye couldn't help but slap him, which calmed him down temporarily, and he pointed to a location.

At this moment, Yang Chongwang also came down from the city wall. Next to him was a broad-faced man who was tied up. The man was dressed in black clothes, his hair was disheveled, and his left leg was still bleeding.

"Chengye, look who I caught!" Yang Chongwang said with some joy.

"who is he?"

"He is the head constable of Yijun. He guards this north wall. He knows where the big houses, warehouses, and government offices in the city are."

This is good news. Although they have entered the city, Li Chengye and his men are unaware of the situation inside Yijun City.

Now that we have the local head constable, things will be much easier.

"Okay then, Brother Yang, you take your men and follow him to the warehouse first. I'll find a doctor and bring him over to treat the wounded. Keep each other informed if there's any news."

"Okay, let's do it this way."

Yang Chongwang led the remaining men, who were still relatively intact, towards the city's warehouse.

Then Li Chengye called Chengen to go out of the city and bring over the people who were still in the camp.

Wang Er, from the central command post, also saw the huge cloud of dust generated by the collapse of the north wall.

He knew as soon as Li Chengye left the camp.

Wang Er did not object to Li Chengye launching an attack immediately after the Black Scorpion operation, rather than following the proper sequence.

In any case, his role for Li Chengye, Black Scorpion, and Huo Tu was to use them as cannon fodder to wear down the enemy.

He was already accustomed to using this tactic when attacking various towns and fortresses outside Chengcheng.

But there were many things he didn't expect today.

First, there was the crushing defeat of Hotu. He never expected that a single moat would leave thousands of men stranded there.

He knew that Huotu was a farmer who had never seen war, but he never expected him to be so stupid.

Next was Black Scorpion. This bandit, who had been around for years, was indeed quite skilled. He saw Black Scorpion's men take advantage of the chaos to climb up the east wall multiple times, showing considerable bravery.

But what surprised him even more was his fellow villager from Baishui, Li Chengye.

He actually led his men to smash through the city wall and storm Yijun.

This reminded him of his actions in the camp during this time; this person seemed to be different from others.

However, the fall of the city is ultimately a good thing.

He gave an urgent order, and the old camp quickly assembled and headed towards the north wall.

Standing on the south wall, Wei Mingdao saw that the main force of the bandits outside the city was gathering thousands of core members and rapidly advancing towards the north wall. Recalling the huge cloud of dust from earlier, he knew that something bad was about to happen.

He found the bewildered Zhou Dezhao among the panicked crowd on the city wall.

"Master, the city walls are no longer defensible. Let's retreat back into the city and make further plans."

But Zhou Dezhao did not respond to him; he had not yet recovered from the shock of the city's fall.

My mind was filled with questions: The city has fallen? How did it fall? What should we do? My head was full of questions.

Seeing that Zhou Dezhao was not going to recover anytime soon, Wei Mingdao called over several county yamen runners and his classmates, and together they helped Zhou Dezhao down the city wall and headed towards the county yamen.

When Wang Er arrived at the north wall and saw the huge gap, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up. When he saw that Li Chengye hadn't entered the city but was treating the wounded, his smile widened even more.

He urged his men to hurry into the city and wipe out the remaining enemies as he walked toward Li Chengye.

"Brother Chengye, you've truly impressed me this time!"

"I never knew our Baishui County had such a military genius as you! The imperial court is truly burying talent!"

"I dare not claim to be the leader. It is the brothers who dared to fight to the death. I just happened to be there and became the leader."

Wang Er's eyes flickered. Li Chengye's "not taking credit" surprised him and made him feel that this person was unpredictable.

He laughed heartily, glancing around at the groaning wounded and the busy doctors and nurses, including Master Qin: "Brother Chengye is not only a skilled warrior, but also considerate of his men. Truly rare!"

He then changed the subject, "However, now is not the time for politeness. Although a corner of the city has been breached, the remaining enemies inside are not yet gone and must be eliminated as soon as possible. Those treasuries, government offices, and mansions of wealthy families also need to be taken control as soon as possible to prevent some petty villains from taking advantage of the chaos."

He leaned closer, lowered his voice, and adopted a tone of heartfelt sincerity: "Your unit suffered considerable casualties, yet you achieved the greatest merit. The arduous task of mopping up the remaining enemy and controlling key locations will be entrusted to my old brothers. You and your men should rest and recuperate here, treat the wounded, and then completely control the north gate area—that would be a great achievement! After we've dealt with the city, I'll reward you accordingly!"

Then Wang Er led his men into the city, while Qin Ye leaned closer to Li Chengye and whispered:

"Is he telling us to just stand guard at this door?"

Li Chengye nodded. This Wang Er seemed bold at first glance, but now he was no more than Yuan Shao.

"Master Qin, don't worry, Brother Yang has already entered the city, and we will have everything we need."

As Wang Er's large force entered the city, those who had initially tried to resist fell silent and went into hiding.

However, Wang Er's camp itself was not very disciplined, and from time to time, some people would desert from the main force and sneak into the homes of wealthy people to rob them.

Wang Er initially didn't take it seriously and didn't punish him, but the others in the old camp became even more unscrupulous when they saw Wang Er's behavior.

In the end, the entire camp fell apart. The various leaders led their men to plunder, and some even fought each other over a courtyard because it was considered a good one.

Only then did Wang Er realize he needed to stop it, but he no longer had any organized force under his command and could only let it go.

Thinking that these people would naturally return to camp after venting their anger.

The city of Yijun is high in the south and low in the north. People with wealth tend to build their houses in the south of the city, while the north is mostly inhabited by poor families.

After Li Chengye and his men occupied the north wall, they occupied two streets outside and used residents' houses to house the wounded.

The residents of these houses were initially terrified when the bandits entered their courtyards, but they later discovered that the bandits did not kill or rob anyone; they only asked them to make room for the wounded, so they accepted the request.

When the siege began, Li Chengye brought three hundred men. By the time the city fell, only about a hundred men were still alive, but not many died, only a dozen or so. Most of the men were wounded.

In the Ming Dynasty, barring unforeseen circumstances, most of these injured people would die one by one from wound infections within the next two weeks.

Especially those who were scalded by boiling water, at first half of their bodies were pink, but after a while large areas of brown blisters appeared.

Although the person seemed to be in good spirits, Li Chengye knew from that memory that the upcoming infection would be fatal.

The doctor he found in the city came over, took a look, and then subtly shook his head at Li Chengye.

Li Chengye remembered that there was something called alcohol that could kill germs and bacteria, but that stuff required distillation of strong liquor, and he didn't know where he could get it in such a short time.

By this time, the sun was already setting, but the sounds of fighting continued throughout the city, spreading from the south to the north.

Li Chengye had no choice but to select fifty or sixty relatively strong and honest men from among those brought by Chengen, and have them carry weapons and pretend to guard the street corner.

Several scattered groups of soldiers, seeing this, decided to avoid trouble and kept their distance.

But Li Chengye was still uneasy. If Yang Chongwang's main force were here, why would he need to act so arrogantly?

So he asked Han Sanhu to go and find Yang Chongwang, but the other party had not returned and there was still no news.

But Han Sanhu had barely set off when he returned, followed by a convoy of cars.

What's going on?

While Li Chengye was still wondering, he saw Yang Chongwang standing behind Han Sanhu, looking ashamed.