Jiangling, since ancient times is the important place of the Yangtze River, south of the Yangtze River, north of the Han River, west of Bashu, south of Hunan and Guangdong, there are seven provinces of the thoroughfare of the title, the city of Jiangling was formerly known as the capital of Chu State "Ying", from the Spring and Autumn Period to the five dynasties and ten countries, there have been 34 generations of emperors to build the capital here, which lasted more than 500 years.

At this moment, Ren Jiguang, the general of the Dashun army, was standing on the south gate of Jiangling City, looking at the warships on the river not far away, his heart was also pulled together, and the flag fluttering in the wind reminded him that the tranquility of Jiangling City had stopped.

Ren Jiguang has followed Li Zicheng for seven or eight years, and has always been Li Zicheng's confidant, so Li Zicheng will hand over the important task of guarding Jiangling to him, when Li Zicheng led the army to the north to attack the fortification, he knew that the war would come soon, because he was opposite Cao Bianjiao's station, he would definitely not be idle, although it was abrupt, but he was already prepared.

Cao Bianjiao's more than 100 naval warships stood across the Yangtze River, and they were facing the Jiangling city wall with the black hole muzzle, they were not not attacking, but wanted to win without a fight, hoping that they would surrender, Ren Jiguang would naturally not do this, it would be tantamount to betraying Li Zicheng, he would die in battle, and he would not disappoint Li Zicheng, so he was ready to die in battle.

"Have all the messengers sent for help departed?" Ren Jiguang asked the deputy general beside him.

"It's all been sent out!"

Ren Jiguang nodded, just send it out, Jiangling is not an isolated city, there is Yiling in the west of Jiangling, Lin Yangcheng and Niu Wancai have more than 20,000 soldiers and horses stationed there, as well as Hanchuan and Jingmen also have tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, Xiangyang also has 30,000 troops, Cao Bianjiao is only 40,000 or 50,000 soldiers and horses, they have 100,000 troops in Hubei, so Ren Jixian is still confident that he can hold Jiangling, and if he holds Jiangling, Hubei will be able to hold it.

"Driving...... Riding a ......" horse galloped and stopped outside the city, it was the Ming military army.

"On the order of General Cao, the chief soldier of the Ming Dynasty, I came to inform the Jiangling Dashun Army that we must resist stubbornly, and immediately open the city and surrender, otherwise we will attack the city!"

"The Dashun army is not the same as it used to be, and your officers and soldiers are not what they used to be, you want me to surrender, you are dreaming, if you want to attack the city, then let the horses come!" Ren Jiguang replied very decisively.

Soon, Cao Bianjiao received Ren Jiguang's reply, and felt very natural at that time, not surprising at all, the current Dashun Army is the time when the momentum is like a rainbow, and there are victories everywhere, how can they surrender, what they do is just a routine, and at the same time, it is also to explore the city defense of Jiangling, calculate the distance from the riverside to Jiangling, and arrange the battlefield.

"Siege the city!" Cao Bianjiaoyun said lightly.

"Load your ammunition and prepare for the siege!" Jiang Zhu, who was beside Cao Bianjiao, also immediately conveyed this military order, five red-clothed cannons and more than 100 Furlong machine guns, divided into two columns, and launched an offensive from the south, southeast, and southwest directions, these are Cao Bianjiao's savings in the past two years, and the ammunition is very sufficient, which is enough for him to squander.

"Open the cannon ......" As soon as these two words were shouted, hundreds of artillery pieces began to attack the city wall of Jiangling City, round after round, with a short interval of time, one after another blasting bombs, *, fell inside and outside Jiangling City, the flames soared into the sky, the smoke was filled, the ground under the feet was trembling, and the Dashun soldiers on the city wall were shaking their legs, and some staggered.

"Ah...... Oops......" A series of wails sounded, but they were muffled by the deafening sound of artillery fire, and above the city, there was a tragedy, and the first battle was very fierce.

"Fight back...... under the order of Ren Jiguang, the Dashun army also began to counterattack, they also have artillery, more than 20 guns, distributed in the head of Jiangling City, the Dashun army will not make artillery, these artillery are captured, but after groping, coupled with the guidance of the Cheng official army, they also began to learn to operate artillery attacks, and the two sides launched an artillery battle.

"After more than ten years of fighting, the Dashun army is also constantly growing, at the beginning, they may be a group of homeless people who make trouble for their livelihood, but now they are not, they have grown to the extent that we must face them, they have not only learned to operate muskets and artillery, but also the technology is very proficient, in addition to their combat experience is very rich, although they have not experienced many major battles, but the quality is very high, you see the Dashun army above the city, although it was suppressed by artillery attacks, But he didn't panic, he still stuck to his post, on the other hand, our officers and soldiers were immediately defeated when the battle was unfavorable, and even some people fled without a fight, which is really shameful and hateful! If Li Zicheng's soldiers and horses are all like this, then it will be difficult to save the Ming Dynasty! ”

Listening to Cao Bianjiao's words, Zhu Yujian next to him also smiled bitterly: "Who said it wasn't?" They are no longer homeless, but the Dashun Army, with military regulations and military discipline, and rules and regulations, maybe they are not mature enough now, but over time, they will inevitably grow up. But after all, Li Zicheng's army has a large number of people, and it is impossible for all soldiers and horses to be like this, it is really elite, and it will not exceed 200,000, and the rest are soldiers and horses that have just been reorganized and surrendered, and their combat power is not strong. ”

"It's hard to deal with only 200,000! How many elites can there be in our official army, Zuo Liangyu told me that there are only 30,000 soldiers and horses in his hands who can fight a battle, and the garrison soldiers and horses in Liaodong, even if we add tens of thousands, there are no 200,000, and our future road is not good! ”

Cao Bianjiao is actually not very willing to go to war with these homeless troops in his heart, in fact, many people are forced by the harsh government of the imperial court, natural disasters and man-made disasters continue, there is no way to live, what can you do if you don't rebel, since ancient times, the common people of the Chinese nation have the nature of obeying the people, but if there is a glimmer of hope, they will not do anything about the cabinet, why Li Zicheng can always make a comeback after repeated defeats, caused by the immorality and harsh government of the imperial court, the common people plant an acre of land, and collect two stones of grain, but what taxes are paid by the imperial court, salaries, salaries, etc., It's more than three stones, how can the common people not rebel, so they are all hard-working people, so Cao Bianjiao sometimes really wants to join them and smash the old world with them, but he also knows that Li Zicheng is not Liu Bang, he has no political strategy, and it is not wise to follow him, so he can only rely on himself.

Cannon fodder bombarded day after day, you came and went, some even exploded in the air, very spectacular, Jiangling doesn't know how many years there has been no war, the people are so frightened that they hide at home, no matter who occupies Jiangling City, they don't care, they just ask the people who come to be kind, it's not the notorious Zuo Liangyu, Cao Bianjiao has a high reputation, they don't mind Cao Bianjiao ruling them.