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The Yangzhou massacre took place in 1645 in Yangzhou, China, during the Qing Dynasty. Mass killings of residents in Yangzhou were conducted by Qing troops under the command of Prince Dodo after they conquered the city from forces loyal to the Southern Ming regime of the Hongguang Emperor.

The massacre lasted ten days after the city fell on May 20, 1645. Traditionally, the number of victims was reported as close to 800,000, although some modern scholars consider it an exaggeration. The defending commander, Shi Kefa, was also executed by Qing forces after he refused to submit to their authority.

The alleged reasons for the massacre were: To punish the residents because of resistance efforts led by the Ming official Shi Kefa and to warn the rest of the population in Jiangnan of the consequences of resisting the invaders.

When the Manchu army finally began the assault of Yangzhou, Shi Kefa's guns killed them in their thousands. The bodies piled up so high, that after a time, there was no need for siege ladders, and fresh Manchu troops climbed a mountain of corpses to reach the battlements.

The defenders of the city began fleeing the walls by jumping onto the houses immediately below, tearing off their helmets and throwing down their spears, creating an unearthly clatter as their feet smashed tiles on the rooftops. The noise brought townsfolk out of their houses in time to see the defenders running away, and soon the streets were full of refugees. But there was nowhere to run. Someone opened the south gate, and the last possible escape route was cut off by more Manchu soldiers.

People were herded like sheep, and had to walk on roads covered with the bodies of their loved ones, stepping on their gutted entrails and remains. Those who lagged whilst walking were flogged or put to death outright. In addition, Houses were burned down as well. Those who remained hidden inside were engulfed in the flames, and those who attempted to escape were killed. A survivor reported that the corpses filled the canals, gutters and ponds, their blood drowning the water itself, creating rivulets of a deep greenish-red throughout the city. The death toll reached the hundreds of thousands. The massacre was followed by many others.