In the early morning of the next day, the sky was bright, the fish in the east were white, and the camp of the anti-Qing rebels came to life.

In the camp, the gang leader picked up the steamer, the hot white gas dispersed, one by one white flowers and big buns, the soldiers ignored the hot hands, each took one, and made a bowl of hot soup, and squatted in the corner to eat and drink.

Wang Dou led more than 20 men from Shunxiang Fort, in a corner of the camp, he sat in a big car, and the others squatted around to eat, and after a while, as the sun leaked out, the war drums in the camp finally sounded.

The artillery outside the city, followed by a roar of huge war drums.

The soldiers of each battalion, like ants, gathered together, began to pick up their weapons, push their equipment, and quickly formed a formation outside the battalion.

More than 20 men from Shunxiang Fort immediately stopped eating and drinking, and had to hurriedly stuff all the remaining steamed buns into their mouths, puffed out their cheeks and looked outside the camp, and saw that the soldiers of other tents came out of the camp one after another, and they were a little excited and eager in their hearts, and they all turned their eyes to Wang Dou, but Wang Dou ate the steamed buns unhurriedly, and drank the soup again, before he stood up, clapped his hands and said: "On the battlefield, you must have blood, but you must also be calm, if you have blood, most of them will not live long!" ”

"Copy guys, go out and line up, look at my back flag, don't get separated!" After Wang Dou finished speaking, he first stretched out his hand to the back of his head, helped down the back flag, and then picked up a **** round shield, and walked outside the camp.

The drums sounded continuously for about two quarters of an hour, and the 5,000 rebels in the northern camp had already set up a formation outside the city.

These 5,000 soldiers and horses were mixed with armor, most of them were holding turbans and wearing a jacket, and only a very small number had a cotton armor and helmet. However, these cotton armors are not very good, at first glance, they are the color of the goods, it is estimated that it is this anti-Qing Dynasty, and the old border soldiers turned out of the box and wore them.

In terms of appearance, this group of centaurs is not like a regular army, but like thieves in the wind, and they do have the murderous aura of thieves.

Wang Dou and others were lined up in the left corner in front of the large army formation, and there were many people in more than twenty people, but in the entire military formation, it was just a small square. There were hundreds of these small squares around them, and in the whole large array, they became very small.

Hunting with banners, the big array was silent, Wang Dou saw his old boss Chen Du, riding a horse and leading seven or eight horse troops, rushing out of the military formation, patrolling in front of the city, should be peeking at the defense of the Qing army in the north city.

This time, the army attacked from the south, north, and west at the same time, encircling and leaving the east city, and it is said that the three directions were the main attack, so that Wang Dou was a little unable to see through.

However, there are more than 4,000 green battalions in the city, and General Jiang has invested nearly 20,000 people, so he must have a reason to attack on three sides.

Leaving the eastern city unattacked, this is an old trick of besieging three and missing one, it is to prevent the defenders in the city from falling into despair and the army from burning jade, and leaving one side is to give the defenders in the city a chance to escape.

The Mongols used to use this method to wait for the people in the city to abandon the city and flee, and then chase and kill the cavalry, and cut down all the fleeing people on the way to escape.

This time, Datong's elite soldiers did not participate in the siege, perhaps General Jiang wanted to attack from three sides, force the defenders to abandon the city, and then chase and kill with 3,000 cavalry.

Wang Dou was thinking about it, and after seeing that Chen Du had galloped back to his own formation for a while, the drums of the army were beating again.

Almost at the same time, there were already faint shouts of killing in the direction of Xicheng and Nancheng, which made Wang Dou a little anxious, but he couldn't let others get to the city first.

At this moment, Chen Du, who had returned to the Chinese army, ascended the high platform, waved the flag, and the war drums of "dong dong dong" sounded again.

This time, the drum beat went from slow to urgent, calm and powerful, urging people to forge ahead.

The Qing army at the head of the city heard the drums, Hao Xiaozhong's eyelids involuntarily jumped up with the rhythm of the war drums, and the green battalion soldiers with red-topped hats and coats on the city wall stood densely all over the city, everyone bent their bows and arrows, vigilantly and uneasily looked at the rebels who suddenly moved forward outside the city.

"Break the city, grab money, grab food!"

It's not a slogan that encompasses righteousness, but it's more inspiring than anything to restore the Ming Dynasty.

The rebel striker, a general in rusty iron armor, drew his sword, raised it above his head, and shouted loudly.

From his attire, we know that he must have been a general of the Ming Dynasty before, and this time Jiang Xiang opposed the Qing Dynasty, and many old people of the Ming Dynasty in the north stood up.

The rebel armies in the three directions began to attack Xuanhua almost simultaneously, and the vanguard of the rebels in the front row, under the cover of artillery, slaughtered the city like a tide.

There were about 2,000 men in the vanguard of the northern city, with swords and shields carrying ladders in front, and archers and gunners in the back were responsible for suppressing the city.

On the city wall, the arrows of the Qing army rained down, overwhelmingly shooting down on the city, and the soldiers charged forward with arrows, cannonballs, and artillery stones on their shields and planks, and the soldiers who charged in front kept falling.

When the soldiers rushed to within fifty paces, some of the soldiers began to put planks on the ground and form wooden walls, and the archers began to shoot arrows at the head of the city, and the arrows above and below the city rained together, forming a network of arrows flying in the sky.

After all, the Qing army had few people, and they had to defend three city walls, and as soon as the people were dispersed, the Qing army at the head of the city was slowly suppressed by the city.

Hao Xiaozhong personally commanded the battle at the head of the city, and this time the rebels were extremely well prepared, and he shouted again and again, "Fire the cannons, and suppress the rebels under the city for me!" ”

At this time, when the arrows were being fired from above and below the city, the troops of the first wave of Dengcheng were already carrying ladders and shields, and approached the city wall from under the great net of arrows.

In order to form a continuous attack, in the formation of the rebels outside the city, the trumpets and drums rose again, and Chen Du roared on the car, "The ladder, the goose cart, the siege cone!" ”

The command flag waved, and the follow-up siege troops, pushing heavy equipment, began to slowly move forward.

Nearly half a month before the siege preparations, the rebels had already filled a large section of the moat with a trench cart and pushing dirt.

The arrows at the head of the city were as fast as the wind, the rolling wood and thunder stones kept falling, and the righteous soldiers continued to fall, but although the casualties were relatively large, under the encouragement of the heavy reward, the righteous soldiers still fought bravely, and everyone was rewarded with a thousand taels of silver.

Wang Dou's position was on the left side of the city wall, the arrows were not as dense as at the city gate, and he did not lead his subordinates to rush to the front, but slowed down, and he still maintained a calm and accurate judgment in the charge.

Although he has not fought in the past ten years, as a former member of the border army, these battlefield experiences have been engraved in his bones.

After the first batch of rebels who approached the city wall first were smashed down by the rolling logs and thunder stones on the city, Wang Dou raised a shield in one hand and a ladder in the other, and led a team of eighteen people to the bottom of the city.

The corner was a dead end for the defenders of the city, and he rushed to the bottom of the city, and immediately shouted: "Hang up the siege ladder!" ”

Several men hurriedly picked up the ladder, hung the iron hook at the top on the wall tiles, and the lower end was also held up with wooden stakes.

Wang Dou immediately bit the sword, raised the shield in one hand, and climbed up the ladder with the other, followed by two men.

The Qing army in the city, seeing that there was a new ladder to set up, immediately lifted the rolling log, but just about to smash it, a sharp arrow hit the chest under the city, and the Qing army died at the head of the city.

The men under the city, following Wang Dou's explanation last night, regardless of other places, stared at the vicinity of the wall battlement on which the ladder was erected, and another Qing soldier poked with a gun, and was immediately beaten down from the city.

Taking advantage of this gap, Wang Dou jumped onto the city wall, and his squad became the first rebel unit to enter the city.

The cheers under the city attracted Chen Du's attention, he held the clairvoyant mirror, and saw that on the left broken city wall, a small officer with a flag on his back was a subordinate before him, who had stabbed a Qing soldier to death with a knife, and threw the corpse of the Qing army off the city, he immediately put down the clairvoyant mirror and ordered: "Order the archers to suppress both sides of the fourth climbing ladder on the left, and then transfer a hundred households to the city, and then go to the city!" ”

Chen Du's order was conveyed, and hundreds of arrows were fired at both sides of the siege ladder, killing a small half of the Qing army that wanted to drive them down.

At this time, the ladders and goose carts, which were more convenient for siege, were also close to the city walls, and the battering rams began to hit the city gates.

After the cheers erupted in the northern city, the western city also remembered a cheer, and it could be judged that the men and horses on the other side also climbed the city wall.

Hao Xiaozhong's face began to become heavy, if it goes on like this, the city may not be able to hold on for long, he immediately grabbed a personal soldier, and said with red eyes: "Go, let all the family members of the Fan family go to the city to participate in the defense." ”

The Eight Imperial Merchants want to run foreign trade, and have been doing business in the land of the Mongols for many years, in order to protect the caravan, they have special guards, these people are no worse than the green battalion soldiers, if they are transferred to the city, they should be able to drive down the righteous army that has landed in the city.

When the soldiers heard this, they immediately turned around, but they collided with a person, and the person who came was none other than Fan Yongdou.

Hao Xiaozhong saw him go to the city, thinking that he didn't give an order, Fan Yongdou took people to the city to help in the war, he was about to be overjoyed, but Fan Yongdou looked like a dead old lady and had nothing to love, and cried: "Hao Junmen, it's not good!" The east gate was opened, and the traitor's cavalry rushed into the city! ”

Hao Xiaozhong's eyes almost popped out, and he said in shock: "Sure enough, you still lost to the internal thief, didn't I ask you to closely monitor the situation in the city?" How so? We're all going to die now! ”

Fan Yongdou cried with a sad face, "I have been sending people to inspect closely and investigate carefully, but I didn't expect that Geng Lian that brute would open the door for Jiang Youguang!" ”

(End of chapter)