Chapter 647 Zhang Zicheng's Fate
The fourth general, Ai Nengqi, held a knife in his left hand and took out a rhinoceros horn edict from his bosom with his right hand. Surrounded by his personal guards, he shouted loudly to the gathered soldiers:

"By the order of the Great Qi Emperor, execute the traitor Zhang Zicheng and eliminate his entire clan. The rest will be ignored! Anyone among you who helps me capture Xi'an will receive promotions, fertile land, beautiful houses, women, and money! Anyone who dares to stop me will be guilty of the same crime as the traitor and will have their entire clan executed!"

The guards raised their arms and shouted at the soldiers below the stage:

"Captain Zhang, here's your chance! Seize it and join the four generals in killing the bandits! You'll have a prosperous future!"

"Xiao Daya, I'm talking to you! Your wife, children, and entire family are in northern Shaanxi. Do you still want them to live?"

"Wang San'er, once we've broken through the North Gate, the Emperor of Da Qi will help you settle the debt you owe to the gambling house!"

·····
When one person takes the lead, there will be a second and a third.

More and more people knelt down, and there were thousands of soldiers kneeling in the middle of the street. Only a hundred or so people were still standing.

A burly officer turned around and roared at the soldiers:

"Don't believe what this bastard says! They only have a few hundred people. Our city is high and the moat is deep. The Tartars can't break in. There are still tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in southern Shaanxi. What's the point of being afraid? Fight with the Tartars! Daxi Kingdom will still make you rich and powerful!"

Whoosh.

The sharp arrow flew through the air, passed over the heads of the crowd, and hit the officer in the throat, bringing his agitation to an abrupt end.

Wu Xiao put down his bow, led two imperial guards, and strode out from behind Ai Nengqi.

Thousands of Dashi soldiers were attracted by the black battle jacket he was wearing, and the crowd was in an uproar.

Seeing Wu Xiao coming up, Ai Nengqi and Pan Du'ao hurriedly bowed and saluted. Wu Xiao nodded to them, took a wooden trumpet from Pan Zhan'ao, looked at the dark crowd, and said calmly:
"Tens of thousands of troops from the Second Imperial Army have surrounded Xi'an. We have people in the city too. Northern Shaanxi has surrendered, as have Weinan, Ankang, and Hanzhong. No one will come to save you. Only you can save yourselves! The Emperor is merciful and will not kill us all. As long as you surrender immediately, you will be safe! Surrender, or not!"

Thousands of Dashi soldiers were shocked by Wu Xiao's momentum. Those officers who were still hesitant also knelt on the ground, and thousands of people shouted in unison:
"Drop! Drop! Drop!!"

The sound was deafening.

The last dozen or so Yulin Guards, each holding a weapon, looked around in panic.

Some of the smarter ones had already dropped their weapons and fled to report the news, while those who were slow to react were still standing there stupidly.

Ai Nengqi ordered his personal soldier Wu Zhichong to wrap up Zhang Zicheng's head and put it away. Then he pointed his sword forward, pointing towards the north gate of the city, and said to the soldiers:

"follow me!"

Seeing this, one of Zhang Zicheng's trusted confidants, the Yulin Guard, raised his sword and waved at the vast Dashi Army behind him.

"follow me!"

After saying that, he ran towards the north gate. After he took a few steps, his personal soldier Wu Zhichong caught up with him.

Wu Zhichong swung Zhang Zicheng's head and smashed it hard on the back of the Yulin Guard's head like a hammer.

Bang!
The Yulin Guards who had just been shouting "Follow me" fell to the ground and were immediately trampled by countless feet.

"follow me!"

~~~~
Poor Zhang Zicheng was a local tyrant who occupied several provinces, but in the end he ended up with his head separated from his body. His head was chopped off and used as a hammer to hit people.

This is exactly:
"When he achieves his hegemony, he will be the emperor, stepping over all the nobles and sleeping on the dragon bed.

It's a pity that he died and his country was destroyed. The Liaodong Hammer King is even stronger."

On that day, Ai Nengqi opened the Anyuan Gate and led the Qi army into the city.

The 300 musketeers of the first battalion quickly climbed up the ruined Furong Tower, controlled the commanding heights, and covered the grenadiers and spearmen entering the city.

The subsequent troops advanced rapidly towards the south of the city along the main road, Chaotian Street.

The streets were littered with corpses of the Dashi Army. Some wounded but not dead soldiers were wailing on the ground and were immediately killed by the Qi Army that rushed up later.

The musketeers on the ruins of Furong Tower, after covering the soldiers entering the city, began to expand north and south along the city wall. With Anding Gate as the center, hundreds of steps of the city wall on both sides were quickly occupied by the Qi army.

Auxiliary troops climbed up to the top of the city wall, pushed the destroyed red cannon of the defenders down the wall, drove the mules and horses, and transported the field artillery of each camp to the top of the city wall.

Fifteen Type 36 field guns were loaded, their muzzles raised and aimed at the Chaotian Street barricade.

The artillery battalion commander raised his flag and shouted:

"Set firing parameters! Azimuth 27-00, firing angle 06-80! — Fire!"

The shells flew over the flame-filled Chaotian Street and came whistling. More than a dozen shells brushed past the barricades and landed behind the street. The iron balls hit the bluestone slabs hard, and the slabs instantly broke into pieces, and stone chips rained down on the houses along the street.

The barricade was suddenly filled with musketry, and lead bullets mixed with arrow feathers poured down like a wave onto the grenadiers who were charging a hundred steps ahead.

At the same time, several falconet barrels protruded from the sandbags on the barricade.

boom! boom! boom!
Dozens of the three hundred grenadiers who were in the front fell down immediately. The surviving captain blew the bamboo whistle desperately, ordering the grenadiers to evacuate to both sides of the street.

The messenger from the First Battalion hurried up to the ruins of Furong Tower and pointed a finger at the artillery battalion commander, Zhou Tiexi, and cursed, "Fuck you! How can your artillery battalion fire a cannon? Quick, knock that tortoise shell off Chaotian Street!"

Zhou Tiexi's face turned ashen.

The scout from the artillery battalion put down his telescope and loudly reported the impact point.

Zhou Tiexi shouted at the top of his lungs, "Correct the trajectory and continue the test firing!"

"Azimuth 27-02, firing angle 06-85—shoot!"

boom! boom! boom!
The top of the city was instantly covered by thick white smoke, and only loud explosions were heard from Chaotian Street.

The second round of artillery fire was effective. Two shrapnel shells landed in the middle of the barricade, detonating the defenders' ammunition. The barricade was instantly engulfed in flames.

The grenadiers guarding behind the barricades rushed forward and quickly occupied the entire Chaotian Street.

The auxiliary troops pushed the field artillery onto the city wall along the war horse wall, and bombarded the stubbornly resisting Dashi Army in the city from a high position.

With 6,000 soldiers from three battalions of the Second Corps entering the main city, the final outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt.

Fires were everywhere in the city, and shouts of killing continued.

To avoid accidental injury to friendly forces, the artillery has stopped shelling and the Divine Fire Crow is no longer firing.

The last remaining Dashi army was still setting fires everywhere, trying to stop the Qi army's offensive with fire. They set up
The first battalion's instructor rushed to the front, holding a lance and a musket, braving the hail of bullets, rushing through the sea of fire, and shouted to the soldiers:

"Brothers of the First Battalion, follow me!"

At the same time, Ai Nengqi led his soldiers to pursue the defeated Qi army with high morale.

~~~~~
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the defenders in the city fled towards the south gate. After weighing the pros and cons, the generals of Daxi were forced to surrender to the Qi army. They shouted "Follow me" and led the Qi army to attack the south gate.

The one guarding the South Gate was Zhang Zicheng's second adopted son, Tao Dingbang.

Prince of Jin Tao Dingbang was born into a poor family. In the third year of Chongzhen, he joined Zhang Zicheng's army.

Because of his extraordinary appearance, he was adopted by the Emperor of Daxi.

In the third year of the Tianqi reign, he followed Zhang Zicheng to attack Sichuan and Chongqing. In February, Tao Dingbang disguised himself as a Ming army soldier and rushed overnight with twenty light cavalrymen to capture Mianyang, obtaining more than 100,000 military supplies stored by the Ming Dynasty.

The Battle of Mianyang was the most important battle after Zhang Zicheng entered Sichuan, laying a solid foundation for Zhang Zicheng to establish Dashi later.

Tao Dingbang was famous for his kindness in the army. He led the troops in battle and was extremely brave, earning him the nickname "Ten Thousand Enemies".

He was also the most favored adopted son of the Dashi Emperor.

The fall of Xi'an was imminent. Among all the civil and military officials in Daxi, only the King of Jin tried to turn the tide, defending the city and refusing to surrender even at death.

On the 21st, all 18 gates of Xi'an fell, except for the South Gate guarded by Tao Dingbang.

The 40,000-strong Qi army and the 20,000-strong Dashi army surrounded the South Gate. Many Dashi generals wanted to kill the King of Jin themselves and use Tao Dingbang's head as a token of their surrender in order to win the favor of Qi.

Deng Changxiong admired Prince Jin's talent and respected Tao Dingbang's character. He sent three groups of surrendered officials to Nanguo Gate to persuade him to surrender, but they were all beheaded by Tao Dingbang.

"Since that's the case, let's fulfill his reputation for loyalty and filial piety."

On the morning of the 22nd, the Second and Twelfth Corps fired thousands of artillery pieces at the same time, turning Nanguo Gate into a sea of fire.

None of Tao Dingbang and his 3,000 soldiers surrendered, and all died in battle.

The day before Xi'an Prefecture was pacified, Weinan, Hanzhong and Ankang Prefectures had already surrendered to the Great Qi under the persuasion of Pan Du'ao.

The collapse of the prefectures and counties in southern Shaanxi was also understandable.

By the third year of Guangde, the situation for the Daxi bandits in Shaanxi was extremely precarious.

In battle, they were no match for the Qi army, and in defending the city, they simply did not have enough food and supplies.

Not to mention that everyone has their own little tricks.

The most terrible thing was that Zhang Zicheng and his confidants were unable to come up with a feasible strategy for governing the country - if the Emperor of the Great Western Region had one.

Lack of faith is the beginning of organizational collapse.

After more than ten years of operation, the Dashi generals now own fertile land, beautiful houses, and beautiful wives and concubines. They are no longer the bandits they used to be.

Faced with the Qi army's devastating attack, surrender is undoubtedly the best solution.

With the fall of Xi'an, the entire Shaanxi province came under the rule of the Great Qi.

The Second Corps' battle in Shaanxi has come to an end, and the aftermath will be handled by the Civil Affairs Bureau. Deng Changxiong's target began to shift to Gansu further north.

(End of this chapter)