After the slow progress of the Wu army's tunnel approached the moat, it suddenly accelerated its excavation speed, almost at a flying speed through the Hukou moat that had been cut off from the water source, approaching the Hukou city wall, and at the same time, without the scouts of the Taiping army, the signs of the Wu army's large-scale preparations for war had been undisguised and exposed in front of the Taiping army, and the smoke of cooking dry food in the camps was continuous all day long, and the high-quality materials and oil-rich pine trees that were used to make torches near the surrounding area were almost cut down by the Wu army, and the battalions and armies were rubbing their hands. The murderous aura soared into the sky.

There is not a single soldier of the Taiping Army who does not know that this is the last signal before the brutal war, and there is hardly a soldier of the Taiping Army in Hukou who is not actively preparing for war under the leadership and command of Lin Qirong, preparing for this fierce battle that will be unprecedented. At the same time, in order to prevent accidents, the Taiping army also built an inner city defense line in the southwest corner of Hukou targeted by the Wu army's tunnel early, so that even if the Wu army soldiers were lucky enough to break through the wall defense line of Hukou, they would still be attacked by the Taiping army in the city.

In the entire Hukou City, only the Raozhou Taiping Army led by Ji Rongxian was more leisurely, neither as busy as the Hukou Taiping Army preparing for war, nor as high-spirited and angry as the soldiers of the Hukou Taiping Army. And Lin Qirong now only begs this friendly army not to make trouble and create internal discord, turning a blind eye to such a situation, and is also too lazy to force this friendly army, which is destined to be of little use, to prepare for war.

Lin Qirong also had no time and energy to care about the subtleties of Ji Rongxian's friendly army, in order to disrupt the tactical plan of the Wu army and hit the morale of the Wu army, Lin Qirong personally went to the front line of the tunnel battlefield, and commanded the soldiers of the Taiping Army in Hukou to carefully explore the specific location of the Wu army's tunnel, and prepared to blow up the Wu army's tunnel with top blasting tactics. However, just when the officers and men of the Taiping Army were about to confirm the location of the Wu army's tunnel, the Wu army's battery, which had been silent for three days, suddenly opened fire one after another, violently bombarding all parts of Hukou City, once again bringing casualties to the Taiping soldiers who were busy preparing for war.

"Zhen Tiantian, I can't hear the sound of the demon soldier's hoe, and the demon soldier seems to have slowed down."

"I can't hear the ground here, and the demon soldiers have either stopped working or are digging slowly."

Worse is still to come, even during the interval of the cannonade, the Taiping soldiers in the underground hearing could not hear the sound of the excavation of the Wu army's tunnels, it is obvious that the cunning Wu army engineers deliberately slowed down the excavation speed, careful to avoid making sounds, as far as possible to not give the Taiping army a chance to discover the location of the tunnels of the army in advance. And after the news was reported to Lin Qirong, Lin Qirong was not in a hurry, but immediately took out his pocket watch to check the time, and seeing that the time was less than two o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Qirong had a bottom in his heart, and said: "The general attack time of the demon soldiers must be tonight, or it is likely to be in the second half of the night." ”

"It's supposed to be this time period." Wei Chaocheng, the confidant general, agreed with Lin Qirong's judgment and said: "This is also the usual siege order of the demon soldiers, prepare during the day, raid in the second half of the night, and launch a general attack before dawn, which not only drags us down, but also covers their raid at night, and can see the target clearly during the general attack, our Jiujiang and Anqing are lost like this." ”

"Tell the brethren to prepare for the night battle before dark, eat at the first watch, enter their positions on the second watch, and the reserves will begin to rest now." Without thinking, Lin Qirong quickly finalized the preparation time for tonight, and pointed to the location of the Wu army's tunnel that had been determined before, and ordered: "Call the brothers in the earthen camp to go down, bury two hundred catties of gunpowder there, and ignite and detonate it!" ”

"Zhen Tianhou, can't we be sure that this is the tunnel of the demon soldiers?" Wei Chaocheng asked suspiciously.

"Try your luck." Lin Qirong said coldly: "I also give the demon soldiers a warning, let them understand that we already know the approximate location of their tunnels, and also let them know that it is difficult to attack the city in the tunnels, and hit their morale." ”

Wei Chaocheng suddenly realized, hurriedly saluted Lin Qirong to express his admiration, and immediately sent the Tuying soldiers out of the city, digging a deep pit in the open space outside the city, where the Wu army's tunnel was located, and at the same time organizing the defenders of the city to cover the excavation of the Tuying soldiers with guns.

The soldiers of the Taiping army who were monitoring outside the city immediately fired their guns and cannons, and the soldiers of the Taiping army on the city wall also immediately returned the color, took out the guns and cannons captured from the Russian fleet and poured fire on the Wu army's position, covering the excavation of the pits by the engineers of the army, and fought with the Wu army, and the soldiers of the two armies inevitably suffered casualties.

After paying more than a dozen casualties, the soldiers of the Taiping army quickly dug a deep pit suitable for blasting, and quickly filled the gunpowder bag thrown from the city wall into the bottom of the pit, installed the lead and tamped the soil, and then directly ignited and detonated it before returning to the city. The explosion roared, and a deep pit immediately appeared on the ground under the city, and the Taiping army cheered like thunder, but the soldiers of the Wu army in the distance looked at each other, and then they understood that the Taiping army had already known the location of the tunnel of the army.

…………

The Taiping army's blasting tactics were actually better than they expected, and they blew up directly above the Wu army's tunnel, not only directly blowing up the narrow tunnel that the Wu army had just dug out, but also burying several Wu army sappers alive who had not had time to evacuate. As a result, after the news was reported to Wu Chaoyue, Wu Chaoyue, who was resting and recuperating, suddenly changed his face, knowing that what he was most worried about had already happened, and the Taiping Army had indeed discovered the siege tactics of his own army.

"I really underestimate Lin Qirong's big hair." Dai Wenjie, the chief of staff of the army, was also very frustrated, and sighed: "Not only did he see through our siege tactics in advance, but he also took the initiative to attack and blow up our tunnels, which not only blocked our siege, but also directly hit our morale. ”

"It must be taken, and it must be taken at any cost!" Wu Chaoyue said coldly: "If you can't quickly take Hukou and completely open up the waterway to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Cao Yanzhong will not be able to effectively threaten the long-haired pseudo-capital Nanjing City in Wuhu, and Changmao will not transfer troops from the eastern front to aid the western front, so no matter what the price is today, we will also take Hukou City!" ”

"King Zhennan, but our tunnel has been blown up by Long Hair, is it certain that we will attack head-on?" Another staff member, Zhou Wenxian, asked cautiously.

"It's certain, it's just a matter of how many casualties there are." Wu Chaoyue's expression became more and more indifferent, and said: "Before, I was unwilling to attack head-on to the end, the main reason was to consider the casualties, but now there is no way, time is tight, and our other siege tactics have been broken by Long Hair, and I don't make up my mind." ”

Zhou Wenxian and Dai Wenjie nodded silently, and then Dai Wenjie said: "I hope that Ji Rongxian, who promised to give us an internal response, didn't tell a lie, and really launched an internal response to attack us, so that we can reduce countless losses not only in terms of personnel but also in materials." ”

"As long as we fight resolutely and let Hukou Changmao show his defeat, that Ji Rongxian will have to do it even if he doesn't want to do it for us." Wu Chaoyue said confidently: "And even if Ji Rong was brainwashed by the cult first and was willing to live and die with Hukou Changmao, when Lin Qirong had to mobilize his army to go to the city to help in the battle, his position was also our best breakthrough!" I don't believe that an alien longhair will fight to the death to defend someone else's territory, just like the lakemouth hair! ”

After that, Wu Chaoyue ordered again: "Order the engineer troops to re-dig the tunnel at the collapse of the tunnel, and then order all battalions of our army to fight to the death in this siege, and if you don't take Hukou City, you will never withdraw your troops!" ”

Half a day passed quickly, and when it was time for the initial correction, all parts of the Wu army, which had been fully prepared, were sent out of camp and rushed to their respective positions to prepare for battle, and Wu Chaoyue also personally led the main force of the Chinese army out of the camp and established a headquarters on the nameless earth mountain directly south of Hukou City, and personally commanded this siege battle that was destined to take a long time and suffered huge casualties. As a result, after the news was reported in front of Lin Qirong, Lin Qirong, who had confirmed that the self-army had blown up the Wu army's tunnel, immediately understood that the real test had come, and the Wu army would attack Hukou City head-on at any cost!

"Come on, I know you're ready to do whatever it takes to surpass the little demon." Lin Qirong said viciously: "I want to see how many demon soldiers you have to die and how much price you have to pay to rush to my Hukou City!" ”

After saying this sentence with a hideous expression, Lin Qirong, who had carefully studied the siege tactics of the Wu army, did not rush to send troops to the city to prepare for battle, but just ordered the defenders in the city to prepare for the artillery bombardment of the Wu army, and at the same time let the Taiping soldiers in the underground continue to listen closely to prevent the Wu army from digging tunnels to attack the city. And the top and bottom of the Hukou Taiping Army also kept their duties after receiving Lin Qirong's order, and prepared for this big battle without fear.

At the third moment of the first watch, all the battalions of the Wu army were ready, Wu Chaoyue gave an order, and when the order flag waved, more than 100 light and heavy artillery pieces of the Wu army roared almost at the same time, and all kinds of shells of different sizes were bombarded into the Hukou city one after another, and the earth-shattering sound of artillery fire and explosions also echoed on the Hukou battlefield again, and the momentum was far more fierce than the previous three sieges.

Knowing that the Hukou Taiping Army was already familiar with the tactics of the self-army, they had long hid in the anti-artillery fortifications, but in order to weaken the enemy as much as possible and strengthen the momentum, Wu Chaoyue still used artillery to bombard the Hukou City for a full hour, during which a large number of picric acid shells were used, causing fire in many places in the Hukou City, causing a certain degree of chaos to the defenders, and also causing certain casualties to the Taiping Army lurking in the open air, and then Wu Chaoyue conveyed the order to let the southwest Wu army under Feng Sanbao launch a frontal attack.

Prepared for a long-term hard battle, the Wu army's siege this time was no longer as opportunistic as before, and it immediately launched the siege without only building a few bridges across the river, and chose a relatively conservative but very solid siege tactics, first set up a large number of individual bunkers on the side of the moat, and prepared for fire cover, and then continued to expand the fortifications while taking local materials, and gradually connected the individual bunkers into a line to build a sheep and horse wall, while carrying earth and stone to fill the moat that had already been drained by the Wu army's trenches, Open up a solid path to the army.

No matter how the Taiping army on the city wall shoots and fires artillery, it can't stop the Wu soldiers from filling the trenches in an orderly manner, and the Taiping soldiers can only watch the Wu soldiers fill in a few sections of the moat little by little, and at the same time, the Wu army grenadiers suddenly hit the grenadiers after careful aiming, which also caused a lot of casualties to the defenders of the city, and successfully suppressed a lot of Taiping army field artillery fire.

While methodically opening up the road to the army, under the cover of night, several Wu army demomen suddenly carried explosive bags to the vicinity of the Hukou city gate, in a vain attempt to take advantage of the opportunity that the defenders were attracted by the self-army's trench filling action, and suddenly plotted to blow up the Hukou city gate. It's a pity that Wu Jun's hand was already expected by Lin Qirong, and before the Wu Army Demoman touched the city gate, the Taiping Army's hidden post lurking under the city gate had already issued a warning signal, while shooting the Wu Army Demoman, while calling for help from his companions in the city, the torches were littered in the city, and the location of the Wu Army Demoman was immediately exposed, and then the Wu Army Demoman could only flee in embarrassment in the dense rain of bullets of the Taiping Army. During this period, the Wu Army Demoman who was carrying the Dana explosive bag was also killed by the bullets of the Taiping Army, forcing the Wu Army's front team to quickly send an assault team to recapture the explosive bag, and also paid the price of casualties.

During this period, under the cover of the sound of guns, the Wu army sappers in the tunnel also accelerated the excavation action, but it is still a pity that the underground excavation progress is slow after all, in a short period of time, the Wu army sappers can not dig a tunnel directly under the city anyway, and at the same time, taking advantage of the interval of gunfire, the Taiping soldiers in the ground also vaguely heard the excavation sound of the Wu army sappers, which added the unknown to the success of the Wu army's tunnel siege.

Also during this period, Lin Qirong ventured to the head of Hukou City, personally inspected the two positions of the east gate and the south gate of Hukou that were attacked by the Wu army, and judged that the main attack direction of the Wu army was still the south gate of Hukou through various signs and the location of the Wu army's tunnel, but Lin Qirong did not dare to take it completely lightly, and instructed Li Tiankai, the general in charge of the defense of the east gate: "Be careful, although the tunnel of the demon soldiers is in the southwest corner of the lake, but surpassing the little demon is notoriously tricky, you have to prevent him from turning fiction into reality, feint to attack the south gate and hit the east gate." ”

"Please rest assured, the last general will definitely be careful, and will not give the demon soldiers any chance."

Li Tiankai, who had participated in the defense of Jiujiang, replied solemnly, but before the words fell, there was an alarm under the city, and it turned out that there were Wu army sappers who took advantage of the night and the sound of guns and cannons to cover and quietly touched the foot of the southeast section of the Hukou city wall, in a vain attempt to steal the city wall, fortunately, the Taiping army lurking under the city sent a signal in time to warn, and the Taiping soldiers on the city wall immediately threw torches to illuminate, which quickly smashed the Wu army's behavior of the young people.

"Raised by a son of a bitch, it's really despicable to come together with the bright and the dark." After scolding a swear word, Lin Qirong instructed Li Tiankai again: "Remember, even if the demon soldiers start to attack head-on, you have to prevent me from secretly digging the city wall, and I can't withdraw the secret post under the city until I have to!" ”

After carefully inspecting the defense of the city wall, when Lin Qirong returned to his headquarters in the city, the Wu army was still patiently filling the moat outside the southeast two gates, after confirming this, Lin Qirong first snorted heavily, and then said to Wei Chaocheng, who commanded the reserve: "It seems that the little demon is ready to do both, it is best to steal chickens and dogs to break through the lake, and if you can't steal chickens and dogs, you can attack head-on to the end, and crush us with his strength and weapon superiority." ”

"Just let the horses come." Wei Chaocheng sneered and said: "Whether it's stealing chickens and touching dogs, or a frontal attack in an upright way, as long as he surpasses the little demon and dares to come, we will accompany him to the end!" ”

Lin Qirong nodded, and said: "No matter what, we must withstand this strong attack of the demon soldiers, as long as we resist it, the sharp spirit of the demon soldiers will be broken, and Shi Guozong and Hu Dingwen in Raozhou can also take the opportunity to come to help, no matter how well they fight, the pressure on us here can be reduced a lot, and there is hope for holding the mouth of the lake." ”

Wei Chaocheng nodded vigorously, convinced of Lin Qirong's words, and like all the Taiping Army soldiers present, he was not only full of confidence in the final victory of the Hukou Defense Battle, but also had the determination to die if he did not succeed!

In the second half of the night, nearly four watches, the Wu army finally filled in the moat of the mouth of the six sections, opened up six spacious roads that could reach the city of Hukou, and at the same time, the tunnel had been excavated to the foot of the city wall of the lake, which was not far from the success of the excavation. The situation report was in front of Wu Chaoyue, and Wu Chaoyue, who didn't close his eyes in the middle of the night, did not hesitate, and shouted: "Do it, frontal assault, tunnels, digging city walls and blowing up the city gate at the same time, as long as it succeeds!" ”

The order was issued, and in the shouting, the infantry of the Wu army of three battalions carried all kinds of siege weapons and shouted, and a number of Wu army demomen also sneakily mixed with explosives bags and digging tools, and at the same time, the Wu army artillery, which had been silent for a long time, suddenly roared again, taking advantage of the time difference when the infantry of the army charged to the foot of the city wall, desperately firing artillery, bombarding the Taiping soldiers who got up to meet the city.

It's a pity that the Wu army is a traitor, the Taiping army is not stupid, when the Wu army infantry has not yet charged to the city, the Taiping soldiers on the city wall have always hidden in the interval between the arrow stacks and the debris pile, and successfully avoided the vast majority of the Wu army's shrapnel, and the loss in the Wu army's artillery fire was very slight.

At the same time, the soldiers of the Taiping Army earthen camp who have discovered the location of the Wu Army's tunnel have begun to excavate by hand, competing with the Wu Army engineers to dig the Taiping Army tunnel connecting the Wu Army's tunnel, and at the entrance of the Taiping Army's tunnel, several large pots of fire and charcoal are blazing, and the four-door bellows are looking at the delay, and the firewood and grass that have been poured over the fire and mixed with chili peppers are piled up more than half a person high, and can be thrown into the tunnel at any time and set on fire............

There are also the city gates of the east gate and the south gate of Hukou, and the earth and stone sandbags have also completely blocked the city gate, and even if the Wu army blasters are lucky enough to blow open the city gate, they still cannot enter the city through the city gate. Although the road in the northwest two gates is not blocked, there are emergency knife trucks parked, and there are heavily armed Taiping soldiers with powder kegs to guard, above the exit of the road, the heavy and tall iron jack gate is daunting, and it can fall at any time to cut off the road into the city............

"It's finally here! Come on, surpass the little demon and see how many demon soldiers you have to die before you can break through the Hukou City that I am guarding! ”

When Lin Qirong said this sentence in a firm tone in his heart, the ground under his feet suddenly trembled, shaking Lin Qirong directly, and then, an earth-shattering and violent explosion suddenly came from not far away, almost piercing Lin Qirong's eardrums on the spot. Lin Qirong, who was almost stunned by the violent explosion, finally came back to his senses, and then carefully recalled the location where the explosion sounded, and suddenly his face was as pale as paper, and he blurted out: "Won't it?" My ammunition depot?! ”

At the same time, Wu Chaoyue also saw the violent explosion in the city outside the city, and clearly saw the strong light emitted by the big explosion in Hukou City. ”