Chapter 108: Surrender

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The official road outside Gaoyao's west gate led to the two counties of Yangchun and Guangning, but apart from the six or seven li of flagstone paving near the county seat, most of the rest was gravel road laid down as the terrain allowed.

Some stretches, from years of neglect and mudslides after heavy rain, had long since become a mire. Travelers on foot could manage, but carts and horses would have to be pushed for half a day to get through.

Though the Gaoyao County Magistrate Qin Ming was incompetent, after taking office he genuinely wanted to do some real work for the common people.

After surveying this road, he wanted to ask the prefecture to allocate some silver and join with Yangchun and the other counties to repair it, so that this official road connecting several counties across two prefectures would not fall into ruin.

Of course, Magistrate Qin was not entirely acting out of pure benevolence for the people's welfare; the greater part of it was so he could set up toll stations on the road and collect taxes. Merchants were shrewd — if the road was bad, why would they come?

But these past few years Guangdong had seen constant fighting, and the Qing court's rule there was far from secure. From top to bottom, military matters took precedence, and local affairs naturally went ignored.

Without silver from above and help from neighboring counties, Gaoyao County alone plainly lacked the strength to repair a road nearly a hundred li long.

And so it went. Qin Ming had been county magistrate for nearly three years by his own reckoning, yet the road was still as it had been three years before — even worse, in fact.

The reason was that some townsfolk, when building their own houses, would often steal the flagstones from the road.

With everyone stealing from everyone else, what had once been an intact flagstone road became a patchwork of holes and makeshift repairs, so that a person walking on it could trip if he was not careful.

But at this moment, this potholed flagstone road was the only escape route left to the Qing troops in the city. They had no other choice: either stake their lives on breaking out and run as far as they could, or wait for the Ming army to seal the gates and meekly await death.

No one wants to die; officials and soldiers alike wanted to live, and to live they could only grit their teeth and charge forward.

Outside the west gate there had once been many houses, and it had even been a market. But four years ago, when the Qing army massacred Gaoyao, they had not spared the people outside the walls.

After killing them, they set fire to all the houses outside both the east and west gates and burned them to the ground. Now the area outside the city was a wasteland; weeds grew thick among the broken walls and ruins, and some nameless grass had grown taller than a man.

After fleeing the city, the Qing soldiers had no other direction to run; they could only follow the flagstone road westward. To the south of the road was a dense forest, stretching on for perhaps several dozen li.

The woods followed the hills, and unless one knew the terrain well, nine out of ten who went in would get lost. Moreover, while the outer fringe of the forest had been thinned by cutting, the trees deeper in grew untouched, and brambles covered the ground, making it hard going.

To the north lay farmland. It was already the fourth month, and the harvest this year was good; the wheat in the fields was lush and green.

One could flee through the wheat fields, and a man could run fast there. The problem was that horses could not go that way, for the fields were crisscrossed with irrigation ditches, and a horse could easily stumble and fall if it was not careful.

North and south alike were death for the mounted Xiang Guoqing and his personal guards; the flagstone road alone was a way to live.

"Run!"

Without exception, the Qing soldiers all chose to flee westward. This road was their only way out. As for where they would go after breaking through, and how many would actually get away, that would depend on each man's own luck.

The Ming army came fast. Almost at the moment Xiang Guoqing spurred his horse out through the gate tunnel, several of the swiftest Ming soldiers were already upon him.

"It's a big Tartar officer! Brothers, seize him!"

Those Ming soldiers saw at a glance the official uniform Xiang Guoqing wore and took him for a personage of the Qing army, so they rushed over, each trying to stop him.

But Xiang Guoqing's horsemanship was superb; with a lift and a leap he charged straight through their midst, and the blade in his hand even cut down one Ming soldier as he passed.

Once he had burst out on horseback, he did not even pause to catch his breath. Xiang Guoqing whipped his horse on, charging ahead.

If he could break through before the main body of the Ming army closed in, he would escape with his life. The personal guards behind him followed.

Seeing the Ming soldiers closing in again, one guard, anxious to protect his master, swung his blade to fend them off while shouting, "My lord, go! We will hold them!"

Good slave!

Xiang Guoqing, who considered himself a bannerman, called out the words by reflex, then without pause raised his whip and lashed his mount for all he was worth. Behind him, more and more Ming soldiers pressed in. Though they could not stop Xiang Guoqing, they plugged the gate tunnel solid.

A cornered rabbit will bite. With Ming soldiers blocking the road ahead and Ming soldiers in pursuit behind, and no way out in sight, some bannermen gave up all thought of flight.

One shouted at his panicked comrades around him: "Since we can't get away, we might as well fight the southern savages to the death!" (Author's note: Northerners call southerners "savages"; southerners call northerners "bumpkins.")

"Brothers, fight the thieving savages to the death!"

At these words, a dozen or so bannermen stopped at once and, eyes red, hurled themselves at the Ming soldiers around them. Roused by their example, some of the camp soldiers also turned ferocious and fought the Ming troops in close combat.

If you thieving savages mean to slaughter us all, then I'll fight you to the bitter end! Even if I die, I'll drag you down with me!

The cornered Qing troops, fighting like trapped beasts, ultimately worked no miracle.

The Taiping Army closing in from front and rear outnumbered them several times over, and its morale was higher still — it surged forward like a flood — while they could only resist desperately in their hopelessness. The outcome was settled before the fight even began.

Still, these cornered Qing soldiers did inflict some casualties on the Taiping Army. In particular, the firelocks in the bannermen's hands at close range frightened the Taiping troops.

But after the engineer battalion that arrived in support once again hurled thunderclap bombs, the main fighting was declared over, apart from scattered Qing soldiers still resisting inside the city.

Most of the bannermen and camp soldiers with the ferocity to fight to the death had already fallen in battle; the rest, in their extremity, could only choose surrender.

Wu Er, a Green Standard Company Commander, was caught squarely by the Taiping Army while hurrying toward the east side of the city. Before he could even swing his blade and fight for his life, he was struck by a thunderclap bomb.

Though it did not kill him on the spot, he lost an arm, and with the bleeding unstoppable, he was not far from death.

Li Fuguo's luck was far better than Wu Er's. After leading his personal guards and the camp soldiers gathered around him in a desperate dash to the west gate, only to find it already taken by the Ming army and the bannermen wiped out, he chose to kneel and surrender.

Li Fuguo surrendered for real — not like that Xinxing Company Commander Zhao Shiyu, who made a fuss about "changing sides." Even if he truly had changed sides, the result would likely have been the same as Zhao Shiyu's: his head hung at the entrance of the now-deserted town of Xinxing.

Xiang Guoqing got away. Learning that a company captain of the Han Banners had escaped, Zhou Shixiang did not blame Ge Zheng and the others, for they had done their utmost.

To seize the west gate ahead of the Qing troops, Ge Zheng and his men had practically made a great loop outside the city and run the whole way. With everyone so exhausted they could only gasp for breath, they had still managed to pin most of the Qing troops firmly inside the city.

They had already rendered great service.

After fully securing the situation in the city, Zhou Shixiang ordered a count of the prisoners, had the Green Standard and Han Banners held separately, and brought over the officers from each group.

He had to find out how the Han Banners — who had not appeared in Song Ying's intelligence — had come to be in Gaoyao, what they were there to do, whether there were any other Qing forces near Gaoyao besides them, and whether any of those included Han Banners. (The novel Han Sons Will Not Be Slaves will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there is also a 100% lucky draw with great prizes for everyone!

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