In order to conquer Yangzhou, Hao Bonian took a long time to prepare, not only after arriving in Yangzhou, but in fact, Hao Bonian had already begun to prepare for the capture of Yangzhou after taking over the commander of the Third Army a few months ago.

He not only collected the deployment of Ming troops in Yangzhou City and the nearby areas, but also the situation of the city's defense facilities, the topographical maps of the vicinity, and even the layout of the city in Yangzhou City, all of which were collected in detail through the spies of the Military Intelligence Department.

Then he led the staff officers of the Third Army to plan for several months, and finally worked out a specific combat plan to conquer Yangzhou!

Every detail in it has been carefully calculated and planned!

For example, the selection of the blasting point was also carefully planned, fully considering the geological conditions, the deployment of the nearby Ming army, and so on.

Every order he gave at this time was the result of careful consideration in the past few months, and this was the biggest difference between him and Li Chunjing.

If Li Chunjing is asked to attack Yangzhou, there is no need to be so complicated and troublesome, according to Li Chunjing's character, he will definitely not go to Yangzhou City head-on, but it is possible to directly shake a shot, and then directly attack Gaoyou Prefecture, or even directly attack Huai'an Mansion.

Mobilize the Ming army through large-scale movement warfare, so that the Ming army itself came out of Yangzhou City!

Of course, Li Chunjing's doing this is naturally more risky, and if he is not careful, he will be cut off from the logistics supply line by the Ming army.

After all, tens of thousands of troops rushed north, and Yangzhou was still under the control of the Ming army, and the 100,000 Ming troops in Yangzhou City were a huge threat, and it was even possible that after the main force of the Third Army went north to Huai'an, they would cross the river and attack Jinling City.

At that time, it is possible for Li Chunjing to annihilate the Yangzhou defenders at a very small cost, but it may also lead to the total destruction of the Third Army or the recapture of Jinling City by the Ming army.

And no matter which one it is, it is unbearable for Li Xuan!

Even the counterattack of the Ming army crossing the river was unacceptable to Li Xuan.

The current Tang Dynasty is no longer the same as the previous Tang Dynasty, and now the Tang Dynasty has an advantage in the overall strategy, and it is still a big advantage, there is no need to take such a huge risk at all, as long as it is steady and steady, the Tang Dynasty can also conquer Yangzhou, also occupy Jiangbei, and also overthrow the puppet Ming Dynasty.

So at this time, what the Tang Dynasty needs is not to take risks, but to fight steadily!

Therefore, the commander Li Xuan chose to lead the army into Jiangbei was not Li Chunjing, but Hao Bonian!

And today, Hao Bonian wants to prove that His Majesty's choice is not wrong!

Today, he wants to present a great gift to His Majesty with a brilliant victory!

At the same time, it is also the honor of defending himself as the first general of Datang!

In the past two years, in the Tang Army, Li Chunjing's limelight has surpassed Hao Bonian, and many people believe that the most capable of fighting in the Tang Dynasty is no longer Hao Bonian, but Li Chunjing.

Not only did the Tang Dynasty have this kind of statement, but even the Ming Dynasty also had this kind of statement, and the biggest proof of this is that when the Ming Dynasty learned that Li Chunjing was transferred from Jiangnan to Huguang.

Many high-ranking generals and officials of the Jiangbei Ming Army were quite happy, and after the scheming Li Chunjing was transferred, their confidence in holding Jiangbei increased by several percent out of thin air.

Zhang Yue on the Huguang side felt a lot of pressure, and after Li Chunjing went to Wuchang, the vigilance of the Ming army in the Hanyang area was also raised by several levels.

This is the shadow of the famous tree, Li Chunjing's dazzling series of large-scale maneuver tactics in Jiangxi, Huguang, and Jiangnan made the Ming generals on the opposite side very uncomfortable, resulting in a series of fiascos.

On the contrary, Hao Bonian, when he fought in Huguang before, he didn't show too eye-catching.

And today, he Hao Bonian wants to tell the world that fighting a war is not just a matter of conspiracy and trickery, but of a well-thought-out and upright duel!

In the observation post on the hill, Hao Bonian continued to watch the battle with binoculars from time to time, and occasionally discussed and analyzed with the staff officers behind him, although the assault force had opened a gap, and the Fifth Infantry Division had also successfully controlled part of the city wall.

But the battle is not over!

The resistance of the Ming army was still stubborn, because their army was too many, more than 100,000 troops, and a small section of the city wall guarded by a few thousand people failed, although it would cause a negative impact, but it would not allow the Ming army of more than 100,000 to collapse completely.

In fact, at this time, the Ming troops fighting in other places didn't even know that the gap in the ruins had been broken through, and they were still focused on fighting the enemy in front of them!

The attacking troops of the Third Army numbered tens of thousands of people, and it was only a part of them that attacked the gaps in the ruins!

However, although the battle continued, many people in the staff team behind Hao Bonian could not hide their joy, because they could already see that victory in this battle was in sight.

The only thing to consider now is how long it will take to completely control Yangzhou City, how many enemies can be annihilated, and how to reduce your own casualties in subsequent battles.

In today's battle, the casualties of the Third Army are not small, even if there are no accurate figures, but so far, conservative estimates of casualties have exceeded 3,000.

And now, the general attack has actually broken out for about half an hour!

Hao Bonian and his staff team can already see that victory is in sight, and the generals of the Ming army in the city are naturally not stupid, and many people can see that this battle may not be won!

But although there are many people who know, few people dare to give up easily!

This time, the one who commanded the Ming army in Jiangbei was nominally Chen Linmao, the secretary of the Ming Dynasty's military department, but this person was not the traditional kind of general, Zhang Yue and others were different, he was in Jiangbei, and he could only be regarded as sitting in the town.

And the actual military affairs are in charge of several generals below, including the Jiangbei General Army, the Datong Town General Army, the Xuanfu General Army and others, don't be curious why the general soldiers of the northern border towns will come to Jiangbei, thinking that the main force of the border army has gone south, and the main force in Yangzhou City is the 50,000 border army!

These generals are also veterans who have fought for many years, no matter what their ability is, but they still have eyesight, they all know that since the moment the waste gap is broken, this Yangzhou City will be finished!

The best way now is to retreat, if you can escape one by one, if you can escape tens of thousands of people, then you can continue to hold on to Huai'an and other places in the future.

But do they dare to say it?

Can't!

Because Emperor Zhengde had already given a death order to Chen Linmao, the secretary of the military department sitting in Jiangbei, he must hold Yangzhou!

In fact, not only Chen Linmao, the secretary of the Ministry of War, but also several other senior generals, each of whom was personally received by Emperor Zhengde, and then received an edict from Emperor Zhengde: No matter what, Yangzhou must be held!

Can't hold Yangzhou? Emperor Zhengde didn't say it explicitly, but everyone knew that the end would definitely not be so good.

In order to prevent the generals on the front line from leading their troops to flee or simply surrender and surrender to thieves, Emperor Zhengde on the one hand gave them promotions and knights, various rewards, and on the other hand, he also directly took all their families to Beijing.

No one said it, but everyone knew that once Yangzhou fell, they would lose their official positions lightly, and if they dared to escape or surrender, their families would inevitably be in a different place!

And many people here have already run several times in Jiangxi and Jiangnan, and if they still run in Jiangbei this time, if Emperor Zhengde can bear it, then it will not be Emperor Zhengde.

So although many people know that they are only retreating at this time, no one will say anything!

Of course, not saying it doesn't mean that they don't have other ideas, many people have already begun to quietly gather the descendants under their command, especially the generals of the border army, who gathered their own soldiers and family members early on, and did not send them to the city to fight at all.

Now the people fighting in the city are ordinary soldiers and some miscellaneous troops who are not treated well by their superiors.

It is also ridiculous to say that when the Tang Army invested the most elite assault troops and grenadiers in order to conquer Yangzhou, and even the core main force such as the Fifth Infantry Division was put into battle from the beginning.

On the side of the Ming army, most of its most elite troops, that is, the descendants of generals at all levels, such as their families and personal soldiers, have never fought in the city from beginning to end.

Even some of the elite of the Ming army who fought in the ruins gap before, those were just the family members and personal soldiers of the Ming generals who were excluded and were not welcomed.

Among the hundreds of thousands of troops, the real elite is actually only five or six thousand, and among these five or six thousand, there are only so many thousand people on the battlefield, and they are unlucky to lose all the time at the first time!

Seeing this scene, those generals of the Ming army, who would dare to send the elite of the descendants to death, whether they are fleeing for their lives or surrendering to thieves, these descendants in their hands are the biggest reliance.

If you run for your life, you can rely on them to escape for your life.

When throwing thieves, these elites are also the best bargaining chips, which can be exchanged for a good surrender condition for themselves.

And the performance of many generals also made Chen Linmao look at it, but he didn't say anything, even if he was only a nominal commander and didn't know much about military affairs, but he also knew that this battle could not be fought.

And he himself must not escape, he can't escape, but he doesn't want Jiangbei's army to be wiped out in Yangzhou!

Although Yangzhou can't hold it, although he will definitely not survive, but these soldiers, he still hopes to save more, and then retreat to Huai'an to continue to hold on.

But he had no way to give this order, all he could do was turn a blind eye to some of the practices of the generals under his command, or even acquiesce!

And he himself is starting to prepare for the future!

As the military secretary of the Ming Dynasty, the crown prince Taibao, the commander of hundreds of thousands of troops, even if it is only nominal, at the moment when the city of Yangzhou is broken, he cannot escape, nor can he be captured, let alone surrender!

Otherwise, none of the dozens of people in his family in Jingshi would survive!

He had lived to be in his sixties, but his sons, his grandchildren, were still young!

There was only one choice left for him: suicide!

When Chen Linmao took the poison that had been prepared in advance, he thought, I don't know how he will be evaluated in the history books, he is a loyal minister who was martyred? Or is it a traitorous thief who commits suicide in fear of defeat?