Even if the two inner and outer gates of the east gate of Jiujiang and the two emergency jack gates were blown up, the main force of Liu Mingchuan's inscription battalion directly entered the city, and the soldiers of the Wu army could not quickly defeat the enemy and force the Taiping army to abandon the city. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The specific reason is exactly the same as Zuo Zongtang's prediction and analysis, the Taiping army's street battle preparations are too sufficient, there are dozens or hundreds of semi-underground fortifications on every street in the city, and there are countless above-ground fortifications built by relying on the courtyard walls of private houses, large and small shooting holes are dense and even on the roof, and the streets and alleys in the city are tightly blocked.

If it weren't for the fact that the Taiping Army didn't pay enough attention to the East Gate before, and most of the various street fighting fortifications were idle, Liu Ming's army would definitely have had a hard foothold in the city. If it weren't for Zuo Zongtang's knowledge of people and his good duties, he sent the most elite Cao Yanzhong under Yang Wending to gnaw this hard bone and replace it with other armies, he would have been driven out of the city by the Taiping army's intensive street fighting firepower.

Even so, Liu Mingchuan's army still fought extremely hard in Jiujiang City, the enemy's street fighting firepower was too dense, and the terrain was unfamiliar, so they could only rely on the nearby houses and the sandbags prepared by the Taiping army to block the city gate to hide and hide, while constantly firing guns, while throwing grenades into civilian houses, fighting with the Taiping army for space in the city. During this period, they were constantly shot by the Taiping army's light and dark fortifications, and the Taiping soldiers on the city wall also continued to shoot and attack Liu Ming's army, and the Wu soldiers also suffered considerable casualties.

Lack of experience in attacking fortifications, or when the rear team of the Wu army used a flying ladder to attack the high ground of the city wall, Liu Mingchuan, who was too nervous, suddenly remembered Cao Yanzhong's pre-war advice - after entering the city, he must first seize the ramp of the upper city and seize the high ground of the city wall! After secretly scolding himself for being confused, Liu Mingchuan didn't dare to waste any more time, and hurriedly sent an army to attack the adjacent Shangcheng ramp, but the time to make up for the loss was a little late, and the experienced Taiping army had already tightly sealed the Shangcheng ramp with firepower, and Liu Mingchuan's first attack was directly killed.

At this time, Lin Qirong's troops of the Taiping Army, who hurriedly came from the south gate to reinforce, had also joined the battlefield and launched a fierce attack on the Wu army's position. Liu Mingchuan had no choice but to roar and personally lead his men and horses to charge the ramp of the city, and seize the high ground of the city wall at any cost - only by grabbing this position could the Wu army hope to gain a foothold in the city.

Facts once again proved that Zuo Zongtang was far-sighted, and in the face of the intensive firepower of the Taiping army, no matter which army under Yang Wending came in, there was absolutely no possibility of seizing the ramp and attacking the city wall. No matter how fierce the firepower of the Taiping army was, the officers and men of the Wu army were one after the other, and they immediately threw out grenades at every opportunity, and at any cost used expensive bitter acid grenades to blow up the Taiping soldiers who blocked the ramp and opened fire, blowing up the road to the city, and finally killed the city wall after paying dozens of casualties.

Killing the city wall can not change the passive situation, the Taiping soldiers on the city wall continue to pounce left and right as if crazy, Lin Qirong army under the city also roared and rushed directly to the ramp of the city, preventing Liu Mingchuan's rear army from going to the city, at the same time, the Taiping soldiers under the city also kept shooting and firing cannons, carrying earth and stone sandbags, blocking the city gate and road, desperately preventing the rear army of the Wu army from entering the city. The second battalion sent by Cao Yanzhong could not withstand the fierce fire of the Taiping army and the gunpowder bags that were constantly dropped, and could not break through the blockade of the city gate, so they could only go to the city with flying ladders on both sides of the city gate where the Taiping army's firepower was relatively weak.

In the battle at the East Gate, it was not until most of Liu Ming's army rushed to the city wall that the Wu army gradually stabilized the situation, relying on the fast-fire advantage of the firing pin gun and grenades to fight to defeat the Taiping soldiers who came from both sides, and lined up a dense horizontal team to perform linear tactics, and repelled the Taiping soldiers who came on the city wall one after another, protecting a certain position space, so that the rear army could step on the ladder to go to the city smoothly and gradually strengthen the troops on the city. However, the Taiping army also relied on the sufficient sandbags prepared in advance, quickly blocked the city gate and road, blocked the road for the Wu army soldiers to enter the city directly, and forced the Wu army to go to the city by ladder, successfully delaying the speed of the Wu army's troops, and creating time and opportunity for the main force to expel the Wu army from the city.

Things have come to this point, of course, the Taiping army can only fight with all their might, without Lin Qirong and Li Tiankai's orders, the experienced Taiping soldiers have already spontaneously launched a charge, shouting with red eyes, "Kill!" Kill! Be sure to drive the demons out of the city! They must not be allowed to stand firm on the walls! ”

After all, the firing pin gun is not a Makqin machine gun, no matter how fast the rate of fire is, it can't stop the crazy charge of the Taiping soldiers one after another, as the grenades that were forced to consume a lot before are gradually exhausted, the Taiping soldiers are gradually able to kill in front of the Wu army, and the Wu soldiers are forced to raise their bayonets to fight white-knuckle battles, and the firepower is also greatly reduced, and the already large casualties quickly begin to expand.

At this time, Xiao Qijiang's deputy Hu Zhonghe had already come to Cao Yanzhong with the supreme instructions of Chu Yong and Zuo Zongtang of the two battalions. At the same time, he decisively ordered the grenadiers to step forward and bombard the Taiping troops on the city wall with a grenadier that could be fired in a curved way, and ordered the rear battalion to try to send grenades to the top of the city wall, and did their best to share the pressure on Liu Mingchuan, who was fighting hard.

Zuo Zongtang and Cao Yanzhong both made the most correct choice, even if they were only equipped with arquebuses, but when Hu Zhong and his command Chu Yong used a flying ladder to attack the city wall, the Taiping army was still forced to divide their forces to block and block, which also played a role in sharing the pressure for Liu Ming's army. At the same time, the rear team of the Wu army, which could not quickly go to the city in large numbers, also adjusted its tactics, concentrated the grenade shells to a few soldiers, let them climb up to the city on their backs, and sent melee weapons to Liu Mingchuan's army, which had all used up the grenades.

This is just so that Liu Mingchuan can take a breath, knowing that whether or not he can recapture the city wall is related to the survival of Jiujiang, and the Taiping soldiers who have no choice are still killing from the three directions of south, south and west. The Taiping Army's commander-in-chief, Luo Xuan, was even more ruthless, while sending troops out of the city from the north gate, and attacking the flank of the besieging Wu army at the east gate in a roundabout way, while urgently mobilizing the city's artillery to rush to the east gate for reinforcements, and shouted: "Aim at the location of the Qing demon, and boom!" Don't hurt our own people by mistake, no matter how many people there are, we must drive down the demons on the city wall! ”

…………

When Liu Mingchuan was fighting Jiujiang City, Wei Jun, the general of the Taiping Army's naval division, who had already led his army to the surface of Jiujiang, was in an embarrassment - he didn't know what medicine the Qing army's naval division had taken wrong, and he must have known that there were troop carriers, but he refused to leave the camp to go out of the port to fight, and hid motionless in the small Chikou camp protected by shore artillery and iron chains, and the chances of a frontal attack by the Taiping Army's naval division were very small.

What's even more embarrassing is that if Wei Jun is protecting the real troop transport fleet, then he can take the opportunity to let the marines on the ship land and reinforce the Dongmen battlefield, which is already in full swing, but the so-called troop transport ships of the Taiping Army are loaded with earth, rocks and sandbags, and it is useless for the troop carriers to take the opportunity to land. In desperation, Wei Jun could only send a clipper back to Hukou and ask Qin Rigang for advice on how to deal with it.

Coincidentally, when Wei Jun's messenger arrived at Hukou, it happened that Luo Gang's clipper also brought news of asking for help - in view of the grim situation on the battlefield at the East Gate, Luo Gang asked Qin Rigang to send an army to attack the Qing army outside the East Gate to relieve the pressure on the East Gate Battlefield. When Qin Rigang heard the news, he did not hesitate, and immediately ordered Shi Zhenji to lead two thousand soldiers to board the ship, and sent a small detachment to protect the landing at the Sansheng Temple, and at the same time ordered Wei Jun to remove his disguise and go north to Xiaochikou to intercept the attack road of the Qing army's naval division, so as to prevent the Qing army's naval division from suddenly sending troops to raid the real troop transport fleet of the Taiping army.

Relying on the hard work of the scout clippers, Zuo Zongtang received the news of the second troop transport fleet of the Taiping Army in time, but it was very regrettable that the news that the front team of the Taiping Army's naval division had been undisguised and drove to Xiaochikou. After secretly sighing that the long hair side was really careful enough, Zuo Zongtang pursed his lips and pondered for a moment, and finally ordered: "Send a signal, let Bao go beyond the attack!" Whether you can stop it or not, you have to gamble! ”

The order was issued, Yang Wending's personal soldiers immediately lit fireworks at the agreed place, and after the light flew into the air and exploded, Bao Chao, who had already boarded the flagship, also knew that it was time to dispatch, but the Taiping army fleet that had been disguished had already rushed to line up near Xiaochikou, and the attack at this time was undoubtedly very risky, and several subordinates advised Bao Chao to consider it carefully. But Bao Chao hesitated, and finally shouted: "Attack!" Rush downstream! ”

The chains protecting the fleet fell into the river, and the sailors quickly spread their sails as they rocked their oars and sailed out of the camp in a race against time, adjusting the bow of the ship to point downstream. The sailors of the Taiping Army, who had been prepared for a long time, also immediately rowed oars to meet them and made every effort to intercept the Qing fleet.

Probably with the blessing of Mr. Zeng's spirit in heaven, at the critical moment, **** Yun stood on the side of Bao Chao, who had received the grace of Zeng Guofan's acquaintance - when the Qing army fleet left the port, the north wind that was still very windy before suddenly increased, which greatly accelerated the speed of Bao Chao's army in the north, but it caused huge trouble for the Taiping army's long dragons, fast crabs and tows, and they couldn't keep up with the speed of the small boats. The boat took advantage of the wind, and the big ship of the Qing army was like a sharp arrow, and directly rushed through the small fleet of the Taiping army, rushed through the barrier and went downstream.

"God help me! God help me! God helps! God, you're doing me a great favor! ”

When Bao Chao was ecstatic and yelled, Wei Jun was so anxious that his face turned white, and he hurriedly shouted: "Raise the flag, the whole army will pursue!" Pursue! Pursue! Don't let the demons stop our troop convoy! ”

After the news that the Qing Army's sailors miraculously broke through the Taiping Army's sailors to intercept and kill downstream with the sudden blowing north wind was sent to Zuo Zongtang and others, Yang Wending of course bowed to the sky and thanked God for his help. Zuo Zongtang also rarely laughed, "Good luck, really lucky, this battle, there is more hope." ”

What made Zuo Zongtang and Yang Wending even more overjoyed was still behind, just when Zuo Zongtang was laughing, another herald hurriedly ran in front of Yang Wending, and said: "Dashuai, the tunnel due south has been dug and the gunpowder has been placed, is it immediately ignited?" ”

"I almost forgot about this tunnel." Zuo Zongtang patted his forehead in remorse, and then shouted: "Do you still need to ask if you want to ignite the fire?" It's been arranged a long time ago, light it right away, quick! ”

It had indeed been arranged a long time ago, not only the lead had already been arranged, but even the assault team after the blasting had been successfully arranged, and after the torch lit the fuse, the fuse immediately sizzled and rushed into the tunnel, and rushed to the large coffin filled with picric acid explosives that had been buried under the city wall. At this moment, the tunnel that the Taiping army worked hard to dig was very regrettable and passed by the fatal coffin......

Bang!

In the blasting sound of the earth shaking the mountain, the old Jiujiang city wall jumped directly, first making a terrible cracking sound, and then collapsed in the shattering sound, burying many defenders in the city alive At the same time, almost all the Taiping army earthen camps that had been dug hard were buried alive, revealing a huge gap of seven or eight feet. Then, without waiting for the Taiping army to react, Chu Yong, a battalion that had long been ready to go, immediately charged with his strength, pushing the trench and bridge carts that had been prepared long ago and rushed towards the huge gap.

Under the angry kick of Chen Tianfa, the guard at the south gate, the pale Taiping soldiers remembered to carry sandbags and stepped forward, desperately plugged the gap, and rushed to the gap with muskets to guard. At the same time, countless improved Congreve rockets also roared towards the gap under the ignition of the Qing soldiers, and the fierce battle of artillery fire and smoke also unfolded at the south gate of Jiujiang.

Hearing the news of the South Gate, Luo Xuan's face was also as pale as paper, he did not dare to hesitate, and immediately led his main force of the Chinese army to the South Gate for reinforcements, yelling and shouting just to urge the self-army to speed up its advance, saying that everything was to block this gap related to the survival of Jiujiang.

The time had already entered the second half of the night, but the battle on the Jiujiang battlefield not only showed no signs of subsidence, but on the contrary, the fighting became more fierce and tragic. On the side of the Dongmen battlefield, the artillery of the Taiping army in the city had already concentrated its firepower to bombard the city of Dongmen indiscriminately, killing and wounding countless soldiers of the Wu army and the Taiping army. Although the soldiers of the Wu army outside the city repelled the Taiping army from the north gate several times, the Taiping army was repeatedly defeated and repeatedly charged, and they also fought with the Wu army inexorably, and did their best to delay the speed of the Wu army and Chu Yong's entry into the city.

And on the surface of the Yangtze River, when the Qing army's sailors suddenly killed in front of the Taiping army's troop transport fleet, although the frightened Taiping army's small plucking fleet immediately stepped forward to intercept it, but the ships went down against the wind and water, and could not stop the Qing army's towing boats at all, and the Qing army's big ships rushed directly past the Taiping army to intercept them, and without saying a word, they opened fire on the unarmed Taiping troop carriers, and the Taiping army's troop carriers were in chaos, either fleeing downstream or fleeing to the south bank, and the chaos was not at all. By the time Wei Jun and his fleet finally caught up with Bao Chao's fleet, the Taiping Army fleet was already scattered and could no longer land to assemble to rescue Jiujiang.

When the news of the success of the naval division in blocking the Taiping army's troop transport fleet was delivered to Zuo Zongtang, Zuo Zongtang also immediately sent someone to Cao Yanzhong to give an order, so that Cao Yanzhong knew that the Taiping army's Hukou reinforcements were no longer able to form a formation to reinforce Jiujiang, so that Cao Yanzhong could send more reserves to participate in the siege. And Cao Yanzhong could only smile bitterly when he received the order, because although the Wu army did occupy some city wall positions at the moment, the Taiping army was still entangled at both ends of the Wu army's position, and at the same time, the Taiping army's artillery was still bombarding the east gate city wall indiscriminately.

There is also the south gate, even if a gap seven or eight zhang long has been blown up, but in the face of the crazy resistance of the Taiping soldiers, Chu Yong, whose combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of the Wu army, is still unable to rush into the city.

Of course, Chu Yong can't be blamed for his incompetence, mainly because the Taiping army resisted too stubbornly, but correspondingly, the main combat force of the Taiping army was also contained in the two battlefields of the east gate and the south gate, and there were no more soldiers in the city. At the same time, it is certain that Luo Xuan, who was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, naturally completely forgot the third tunnel of the Qing army.

Just after the hour, the tunnel in the southeast corner, which Zuo Zongtang valued the most, was finally dug up, and a full 200 catties of picric acid explosives and 500 catties of gunpowder had also been buried under the city wall. After getting this news, Zuo Zongtang stood up and ordered: "Light the fire, tell the kingdom to get ready, and as soon as the city wall is broken, immediately kill into the city!" ”

The herald took the order, and Zuo Zongtang knelt down on his knees in the direction of the southeast corner of Jiujiang City, bowed his head three times, and then pressed his forehead to the ground, and then did not move. Yang Wending, who was next to him, looked strange, and asked, "Mr. Ji Gao, what are you doing here?" ”

"Heaven bless, so that this blast must be successful." Zuo Zongtang replied in a deep voice: "He is the most critical to the victory or defeat of this Jiujiang War, if the blasting fails and fails to blow up the city wall in the southeast corner of Jiujiang, tonight it is destined to be wasted, our soldiers will work in vain, and the sacrificed soldiers will all die in vain." ”

Yang Wending suddenly realized, and then got up and knelt next to Zuo Zongtang, kowtowed three times in the direction of the tunnel, and also put his forehead on the ground, and said in his heart: "God bless, you must succeed." (To be continued.) )