The sun set, and the night crept silently up the branches. The night obscured the smoke of gunfire, corresponding to the torches that illuminated the castle as if it were day, and in the darkness below, the remnants of the fire that had not yet burned out gnawed at the military uniforms that could no longer be seen clearly, but pulled the listeners back into the flames of war.

The Qing army's chariot approached the city wall, and the huge battering ram hit the wall bricks heavily in the trumpet. The ladder was erected, and the Qing army warriors with shields and waist knives climbed up rhythmically. The Ming army was fighting back, the boiling oil in the pot was poured out, and the head and face were poured on the rushing car, and then an inconspicuous torch could be exchanged for a raging flame. The city's archers were still firing as hard as they could, and the rolling logs and stones were thrown down the ladder. Some of them were just lifted up by the sharp arrow from the lookout tower through the throat and fell to the ground. And the artillery of the Ming army, as soon as it was loaded, immediately erupted into a breathtaking rage at the lookouts.

In the melee, the Qing army attacked the city, but the warriors who ascended first were quickly killed by the Ming army on the city. The battle lasted until the evening, when the sky gradually darkened, and the Qing army withdrew its troops.

The Qing army besieging the city retreated like a tidal wave, and after a long time, the flames of war under the city began to gradually extinguish. With the remnants of the embers, the broken weapons, the collapsed lookouts, the broken ladders, and even the broken bricks, the smell of burnt corpses made the defenders on the city who still had no appetite for food.

Most of the corpses and rubble in the city had been cleared by the people, and the defenders were leaning on the battlements or lying on the ground, looking exhausted. Drinking water was carried up to the city, but few people touched it. Perhaps, they will need some more time to digest the emotions that have just been so full of their chests, so that they can have a stomach to hold these hot and dissipated foods.

"These Southwest Economic Standards are really all transferred from Shaanxi, they are really fierce!"

A small building near the West City Gate, where the defenders were the former enemy command post. Huang Xing had just returned from inspecting the city defense, glanced at Ma Bao and Wang Han and sat down directly. Before Huang Xing could take a sip of wine to warm up his body, he heard Ma Bao say such a sentence, and there seemed to be a little shame in his tone about being a tiger fighter.

During the city defense war, most of the soldiers of the Qing army had Shaanxi accents, but for people from Fujian and Guangdong such as Huang Xing and Wang Han, how to distinguish the dialects of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Beizhili lacked such a concept and basic experience in their minds.

During this period, Ma Bao insisted that those fierce Qing troops were all from Shaanxi, and it seemed that there was a taste of regional discrimination. However, at this time, the two did not have any desire to refute. Because, those Qing troops who were reorganized from the Ganshan Green Battalion to the Southwest Economic Standard were indeed strong, and the pressure on them in a short period of time was too great. This reminds them of the green battalions in Gansu, Shaanxi and Liaodong that they once fought against, and the green battalions in those places are indeed much stronger than the green battalions formed in the inland and south.

"What about the losses?"

"North of the West City Gate, fifty-six were killed and two hundred and thirty-one were lightly and seriously wounded. The arrows, rolling wood, and boiling oil at the head of the city have all run out and need to be replenished. ”

"South of the West City Gate guarded by our troops, the casualties are about to break three hundred. In terms of guards, it's pretty much the same. It's best to be able to go out of town and collect some that can be used. After all, no one knows when this battle will last. ”

In this battle, Huang Xing and Ma Bao were respectively responsible for guarding the north and south of the West City Gate, and even the city walls with the north and south were also shared by them. In contrast, Wang Han's troops were the least numerous, and their combat effectiveness was very questionable, so they placed them in the position of a reserve to plug the loopholes at any time.

The number of casualties of the two men and horses in the city is inconspicuous in proportion to the size of their own troops. However, this was only caused by the short time between afternoon and nightfall, and if the Qing army had arrived in the city early in the morning, the casualties they would have to pay would only have increased dramatically, even to the point that they could not bear it at all.

The attack of the Qing army was very fierce, not because of how sophisticated the weapons were, but because the officers and soldiers were too experienced in combat, and the organization and cooperation were also very tacit, and the frequency and rhythm of the attack were just right, so that the limited Ming army on the head of the city was exhausted, and was climbed to the top of the city by the sharp soldiers of the Qing army three times before and after.

The sky was getting dark, and the Qing army's offensive had not yet declined, and the main formation had withdrawn its troops. The offensive was blazing, but as soon as the sound of gold sounded, the Qing army immediately organized a retreat without the slightest hesitation. Subsequently, in the farewell of the Ming army at the head of the city with arrows and cannonballs, they calmly withdrew from the battlefield, leaving a place in dilapidation, like an amusement park where a group of bear children had enough.

The defenders at the head of the city were tossed and exhausted, especially the three first arrivals, which doubled the mental pressure of the defenders, and even the physical consumption was huge. The only thing that is fortunate is that the Qing army has withdrawn, but what will happen tomorrow, no one can say now.

"Didn't the Tartars bring artillery this time?"

"I really didn't see it, but it stands to reason that you shouldn't have brought artillery."

In this era, the siege of the city did not carry artillery, and the siege was purely attached to the ant, and the tactics of cold weapon warfare were played, which was undoubtedly a kind of regression. Ma Bao and Huang Xing are both experienced in battle, the former has followed the Chuang Army, the Qing Army and Li Chengdong, and now follows Chen Kai, and the latter is a former general of the Zheng family, and he became the chief military officer under Zheng Chenggong, and it has been many years. Even Wang Han has never eaten pork and seen a pig go, so he is a little unclear about such weirdness.

"Could it be that it is too urgent, and the artillery is still on the way?"

This is undoubtedly a very big possibility, just like the Hongyi artillery team of the Ming army, every time you march, you will inevitably drag the army back. Fortunately, in recent years, it has only been used in Guangdong and its surroundings, otherwise if it is too far away and there is no water transportation, then it can only learn from the Qing army, first besiege the city, and then wait for the artillery team to arrive before attacking.

"It's a pity that Wang's artillery team is still on the Ganzhou side. Otherwise, no matter how big the Tartars' cannons are, we can hit them! ”

In the past two days, Wang Han has heard many things mentioned by Huang Xing, and when it comes to saying this, the least thing on his face is regret.

In this regard, Huang Xing and Ma Bao had to give this friendly army a science popularization about the fact that heavy artillery going to the city is easy to shake such rammed earth walls. This is not only in the structure of the rammed earth, but more importantly, the city wall is too high, and the recoil of the artillery needs to be absorbed too much by the city wall, rather than the fortress, which is built shorter, and then after a certain transformation, the earth can absorb more recoil, so as to achieve the purpose of installing more and larger caliber artillery on the fortress.

"There's not enough time, if you can build an additional fort or something, it's not completely impossible......

The Qing army went deep into the hinterland, and it was probably not daring to fight at night. However, the Ming army still added double guards to ensure the safety of the city wall. And the replenishment of those casualties and guards is also proceeding in an orderly manner, but the work of going out of the city to collect will have to wait until tomorrow dawn to be considered.

Guangdong has been basically recovered by the Ming army today, the Qing army went deep inland, directly to take the lifeline of military transportation, at this moment it seems that Yingde County is lonely in the Qing army's heavy encirclement, the lonely back is reflected in the shore of Zhenshui.

The Qing army company camp south of the city lurks in the darkness at night, observing the movements around it. In the camp, there was no longer any silence at the moment, except for the wounded and sick room, where there would be some natural movements. For the rest, the burning of torches and the footsteps of the sentry are mostly like this.

In the center of the company camp is Hong Chengchou's big camp, and the left and right shrimp camps are divided into two sides. Under the banner of Hong Chengchou, the big tent of the Chinese army was brightly lit, and the generals who came to the military conference had already taken a seat before they came, and they were sitting in danger here, and they did not dare to be rude in front of this civilian official who was becoming thinner and thinner because of his age.

"There are so many plum blossom piles, it seems that I have already gotten the news."

"Those wall grasses are the most slippery and don't leave your hands. If you look at the end, you can't keep it! ”

"Now is not the time to deal with those guys, don't spoil the battle plan of the old man."

The generals were discussing in the big tent, and Hong Chengchou was sitting there, not knowing what he was thinking. With the Qing army's offensive in the afternoon, there may be greater gains after a period of time. However, the sky gradually darkened, and Hong Chengchou ordered the withdrawal of the army. Even the siege was launched from the afternoon, but it was actually deliberate.

"The city of thieves is still well guarded, but if it is according to the last general, it will not be difficult to take it after a few days of onslaught."

"The result of the temptation is acceptable, and the thieves in the city don't seem to be the elite under Chen Kai's command. With such a force, it is okay to defend the city, and there is no need to expect too much in the field. ”

Daniel Zhang said that many of the generals who participated in the siege battle also expressed their agreement. The city, Hong Chengchou is not in a hurry to take it down, first, the army is in a hurry to turn to the battle, and the large-caliber artillery cannot keep up; And secondly, Hong Chengchou is not in a hurry to take this city. Of course, he didn't make this decision at the beginning, but he changed his mind temporarily before an urgent military information was sent to the army yesterday.

"Chen Kai, he should be back soon."

The generals discussed for a long time, and Hong Chengchou, who had been closing his eyes and recuperating, suddenly opened his eyes and said such a sentence. Here, the public will hear Hong Chengchou's premonition and firmly believe it. And once Chen Kai returns to the division, then the battle situation is bound to change, they are now constantly launching onslaught, and if they don't get it right, they will be attacked by Chen Kai, which is not beautiful.

Being in the hinterland of the Ming army, this is the biggest danger of the Qing army at the moment. Relying on the intelligence gathering work of the Changsha shogunate, they roughly estimated Chen Kai's deployment and the deployment of troops in this area, so they made this risky decision.

"Chen Kai won't come back with too many troops, the Yellow Mountain in Tingzhou Mansion has already driven straight in, and it is difficult for him to ride a tiger in Ganzhou. When he came back this time, he must have gathered the thieves from Guangzhou Mansion and Shaozhou Mansion to force our army back, and even if they were added together, they would not be much more than our army. As long as he continues to consume, he is a dead end. ”

I just got a secret report yesterday that Zheng Chenggong did not leave Fujian at all and was still sitting in Fuzhou Mansion, and the news that he commanded the elite of Fujian and sent troops to Tingzhou Mansion was a rumor at all. Without Zheng Chenggong, there is only Huangshan, so the Ming army out of Tingzhou Mansion is just a partial division that cooperates with Chen Kai.

At this moment, Hong Chengchou's tone did not have the slightest bit of fireworks, as if it was gossip. Most of the generals have heard of it, whether it is the Ming Court or the Qing Court, Chen Kai's reputation has never been low, and a cunning and wise label has long been used to compare with Hong Chengchou.

War is not a heads-up before the battle, even if it is a civilian official, such as Liu Bei has Wolong and Feng Yan, Cao Cao has Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Sun Quan has Zhou Yu and Lu Su, the Ming army has a Chen Kai, and the Qing army will use Hong Chengchou for him. However, the court and the people, such a comparison is the most unfeasing, as a "defender", Hong Chengchou is bound to bear more pressure, even if Hong Chengchou actually doesn't care about this, but if he can win Chen Kai's one and a half moves, or even defeat him directly, it will also be of great benefit to the morale of the Qing army.

In recent years, the morale of the Qing army has become increasingly low. The great counteroffensive of the Ming army in the sixth year of Yongli, the two provinces in the eighth year of Yongli changed color, and then last year Chen Kai won Shaozhou Mansion and Li Dingguo also won Wuzhou Mansion in the same way, as if the offensive and defensive forces of the two sides had changed momentum.

Speaking of which, the Qing court still occupies most of China, but the momentum of the Ming army has been fierce in recent years. But in the eyes of others, it seems that it is really the hope of Ming Court Zhongxing. And in this, Chen Kai can be said to have made great contributions, and in the eyes of those who are potentially dissatisfied with the Qing court, there are feudal towns like Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong, and naturally they need more advisers like Chen Kai, and the revival of this dynasty is more promising.

All of you here are Hong Chengchou's thousands of selected characters, and even if they are just exposed to it, they also have a deeper understanding of the current situation.

If you want to succeed, there is no illegality, magic, and potential, and spells are sometimes poor, and what is really terrible is the general trend. Therefore, the current momentum of the Ming army must be suppressed, otherwise if this momentum continues, the Qing court will be overturned sooner or later. And now, Sun Kewang's pig teammate has begun to play a role, and Li Dingguo is inevitably confined to Yungui; Zheng Chenggong sat in Fujian, held the danger, and then relied on the sailors to attack and disturb Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and it was not easy to attack; Only Chen Kai is the target that should be the most prioritized, because Hong Chengchou knows very well that if Chen Kai is really allowed to pass this level, it will be even more difficult to restrict it in the future.

besieged the city to help, Hong Chengchou already wanted to make it clear, and the Qing army did the same. At the same time, as Hong Chengchou expected, Chen Kai personally led Guangdong Fubiao and Hussar Town to rush to save this place that must be saved.