On the outskirts of Hefei, the city of Luzhou, it has been surrounded by the flags of Rulin swords and guns on the inside and three layers outside.

Although only some of them belong to the Taiping Army, the reflection of armor and sparkling blades all over the mountains and fields is enough to make most of the Luzhou officials and soldiers in the city tremble.

What is even more shocking and appalling is the proficiency and swiftness of these Taiping thieves in building camps and civil engineering operations; In the night after arriving yesterday evening, several trenches, fences, horses, breastwalks, arrowtowers and watchtowers had been erected on the three sides of the city, east and west, north and west.

Moreover, under the watchful eye and prying eyes of the defenders, they used carts to connect them into basic camp outlines and defensive formations. Then, for the arrangement around these car formations, it was unabashedly illuminated everywhere and the lights were weaving all over the night. It's been like this, and the busyness has not stopped until dawn.

From the top of the city, it can be seen and found that they have a large number of sophisticated and convenient tools, as well as sufficient manpower and skill. It is more able to precisely plan and use all the materials and conditions that can be obtained on the spot. So, in the white of the fish's belly in the sky, the first earthen platform facing the city gate in the south of the city has already begun to take shape;

Beneath this rapidly piled up first earthen platform, there was already a blue-gray sortie array of helmets and armor that had been assembled.

"Thank you for giving me this opportunity, I will definitely live up to the trust."

The whole body was draped from head to foot, and Zhou Ben, who wore double protection on the inside and outside, shook the black tassel on the round-edged iron helmet and thanked him.

"May you succeed in your success."

Zhou Huai'an wished in his mouth, but sighed secretly.

This is really worthy of being a fierce man who can fight with his bare hands when he is young. After putting on two layers of iron scale armor and leather armor inside and out, an iron whip and an eight-sided hammer inserted in his waist, and a wrought iron thick-backed broadsword in his hand, he still looked like he was not blushing or panting. This can't help but make people full of expectations for the next siege battle.

And Zhou Ben, who took the order and left, also sighed in his heart, and after a few days, he was going to fold some familiar people to meet each other. But although he felt a little guilty and sighed unbearably, he did not taste much regret and emotion; Even if he took the initiative to defect to this Taiping thief, he could just sit back and watch the success or failure.

But on the other hand, Zhou Ben desperately needed this opportunity to show his value in this new group and force; As long as he can show enough usefulness, he will be able to get more chips and bonuses in the intercession to protect the people of the next Zhou clan in the future.

Of course, on the other hand, he doesn't have much sense of belonging to the Luzhou Army. He was originally a native of Susong County, Shuzhou, and he was a little prodigal when he was young, but after watching "The Legend of the Three Evils in Zhou", he suddenly woke up and was determined to make a difference. However, at first, he took the letter of recommendation, and it was the clan that went to join the army because of the history of the old Chizhou assassin in the clan;

It wasn't until the Battle of Shinshu more than half a year ago that the Chizhou Army, which was preparing to rush to the aid of the Huainan Camp Army, inexplicably had civil strife. The rebel army killed the assassin Zhao Yin, and most of it was annexed by the Luzhou army. And Zhou Ben, who was the vanguard of catching the life and opening the way to the south, also had to lead hundreds of people to return, and inexplicably became a subordinate of the Luzhou army.

Although the defense of Luzhou made Yang Xingchou value his courage a lot, and repeatedly encircled him; But in fact, he served under the command of the Luzhou Army, and it was only a few months, except for the battle of Hezhou and Shuzhou as the first to win the gate, there were not many opportunities for meritorious service and performance.

The subsequent act of arresting the Zhou clan with all his might, and the act of suddenly imprisoning him, are enough to make people deviate from morality and finally have a little kindness to dissipate. Therefore, in public and private, he has to invest and express his position for his belonging in the new forces.

Thinking of this, he once again flipped the long-handled broadsword in his hand; It is made of blue-gray textured South China Sea iron, the front and rear weights are evenly and densely compact, and the cutting edge is polished and bright, and the front and back are exactly the same. It's hard to imagine such a well-crafted thing, this is just one of the standard weapons that the Taiping thieves are equipped with in batches.

He had thought it was just some kind of boastful generalization; But then the officers and craftsmen of the army easily showed him hundreds of almost exactly the same new ordnance products, instead of those miscellaneous old and new goods to choose from; Then he found that the utensils used by the ordinary soldiers for drinking, cooking, and storage were also made of fine iron;

This made him completely convinced, and he had a deeper understanding and experience of this Taiping thief, who was known as "the most sophisticated among the thieves" and "more like the official army than the official army". In other words, he felt that this military horse should no longer be called a Taiping thief, but should be called the "Taiping Iron Army".

At least most of the officers and soldiers in the world have not yet had the luxury and magnanimity to allow the soldiers' clothing, food, shelter and transportation to use and equip with iron products of various names. In the many feudal towns in the world, being able to have a stable and sufficient source of sophisticated weapons and the output of iron tools undoubtedly represents a certain kind of heritage and strength;

It's like in this Luzhou city, with hundreds of craftsmen and several iron workshops and furnaces, to build and repair weapons, it is already enough to praise the capital of one party; It is said that in Nanhai County, outside the Taiping Mountains, there are tens of thousands of people who specialize in mining, smelting and forging, and make a corresponding living, which is simply unimaginable.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel more and more in awe and admiration for this white body who rose among thieves and had the current situation with several years of meritorious service.

Following the sound of the horn, Zhou Ben couldn't help but instinctively pick up the big knife and was about to pull out his legs; only to find that the left is close to the slightest, but the array of the old god is still free; Then a jumping lieutenant who stood close to him whispered:

"Don't be in a hurry for this new brother, let's let the Appearance Team and the Shooting Team warm up first."

With this person's annotation, the heavy clanging sound in the rear also resounded one after another; And burst out of many smoke rolling burning flints, high and low staggered crashed on the battlements and walls of the city, between the smoke and fire and the earth and stone bursting, suddenly aroused a ghost cry wolf howl of the defenders of the city.

Then, the arrows that were fired from the earthen platform were like a summer shower, and the defenders who were suppressed one after another did not dare to raise their heads, nor could they lean out to fight back together.

At this time, the whistle of the marching army sounded; But the first to move was the earth-covering team that crossed them from the wings, and rushed forward with big signs and pushing the blocking cart.

In between them, they carried tools on their backs and pushed a cart full of dirt bags and wet mud and dry firewood. Like ants moving mountains, they quickly filled in and cleared out in the direction they were heading for, and several pieces of the city crossed the moat and went straight to the temporary path under the city walls.

Then, the whistle sounded for the second time; The jumpers who ascended to the sequence first still didn't move; Ladders and other siege equipment were also not seen. Instead, some of the carts with heavy wheels and covered in wet felt and mud in front were slowly pushed forward to take the place of the retreating mulching team.

Once again, a sharper whistle sounded in the sky. This time, the jumping team at the forefront of Zhou Ben finally moved; To the rhythm of trumpets and drums, they slowly marched forward under the arrows scattered at the head of the city; Then, in the slow and rapid beat, it was made into a trot that was still slightly neat.

And Zhou Ben, who was in it, also became agitated, because in the direction he was about to attack, there was such a city wall with obvious colors that were slightly different from other places. And some of the large and small vehicles that had reached the base of the wall had been smashed and burned;

But other vehicles were grouped together, and with the large plates and baffles that had been removed, they were digging up with all kinds of equipment while fending off the throwing and crashing objects from the city.

The battle seems to have become particularly fierce here; From time to time, the defenders of the city who fought hard but were shot and wounded fell down; There were also volunteers who were injured by the ashes, boiling water, throwing stones, and sassal trees that could not be avoided in the city, and were dragged away or pushed aside.

However, at the very front of them, there were only a few dozen paces left from the city wall; Zhou Ben still didn't see any equipment that could be used to climb and use his strength to step on the city.

Could it be that the battle was forgotten, he thought with some disbelief, but his hands and feet did not stop crossing the shallow moat of earthen bags, firewood and grass, and baffles; Then I want to pick up a piece of my hand right away so that I can hold on to the wall for a little longer.

You know, when he was ordered to fight Hezhou. Because the sneak attack failed to become a strong attack; Just the reciprocating battle at the half-open city gate, it was the jumping warrior who was killed and injured that he brought with him, and it took several stubbles to gradually turn the situation around.

Suddenly, the rebels who were digging into the wall abandoned the temporary bunkers of carts and signs, and reflexively retreated towards them; Zhou Ben's heart became more and more doubtful, but he struggled to wave the big knife, wanting to drive them back.

Then before he could utter his words, he was interrupted by the muffled sound of surging in front of him, and the gray smoke and dust that bloomed under the base of the wall. Suddenly, the oncoming dust filled his mouth and nose; The sand particles that splashed him even more hurt in the face,

But Zhou Ben couldn't care about this obstacle; Because in his stunned expression, several cracks quickly sprouted from the bottom to the top of the opposite city wall at a speed visible to the naked eye; It sprang up to the battlements of the upper part of the city wall, and then turned into large pieces that cracked and fell down one after another.

Then, several similar cracks were joined together; In the end, it turned into a large half of the city wall that collapsed from top to bottom. At this moment, Zhou Ben's dumbfounded eyes were about to crack. Taiping thieves still have such unpredictable methods of breaking the city?

I thought that it would take a tragic battle of dead and wounded pillows to achieve the initial result, but it was so simple and easy to achieve?

He couldn't help but be filled with a certain shock and unbridled pleasure, and without looking back, he rushed up the crumbling slope of the city wall, and then crashed headlong into the defenders who hurriedly carried the fence and came to intercept them, and slashed with his sword.

(End of chapter)