Removing the essence and preserving the essence, absorbing the residual essence of the Qing army in various places, and gradually gaining continuous experience in the actual combat of real swords and guns, the once vulnerable Qing army of Zhili has indeed made great progress. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

On the two battlefields of Chongwenmen and Xuanwumen, although the actions of the Qing army did not seem to be large, they only bombarded the city with artillery, used the streets of private houses as a cover, and constantly used the Lizhi rifles assisted by Tsarist Russia and the Minnie guns purchased by themselves to accurately shoot the Wu troops in the city, but they created huge pressure and more casualties on the Wu soldiers on duty in the city.

Especially in the case of a large number of new auxiliary soldiers in the ranks of the Wu army, the tactical effect of the Qing army is more and more significant, the Wu army auxiliaries composed of homeless beggars and slaves of the Eight Banners have no experience, do not know how to dodge the Qing army shells correctly and safely, when the Qing army shells fall to the side and bounce, they are basically screaming and running around to dodge, not only are they more likely to be hit by ricochet, but also give the Qing army under the city the opportunity to shoot and kill, the casualties are not small at the same time, but also seriously expose the Wu army's city wall defense line is real, Let the Qing army under the city easily grasp the deployment of the Wu army in the city, and find out the approximate location of the main force of the Wu army.

Then, when the Qing army focused its artillery fire on the possible position of the main force of the Wu army, of course, the casualties of the main soldiers of the Wu army also rose rapidly, forcing the Wu army's artillery to fire back, exposing the location of the artillery position by itself, and giving the Qing army's artillery the opportunity to densely cover the Wu army's artillery position.

In addition, the Qing army took advantage of the fact that the moat had been frozen, and constantly crossed the river with small groups of soldiers to storm the city gate, smashed the city gate structure with axes and hammers when they had the opportunity, and quickly retreated when they did not have the opportunity, and fought flexibly, forcing the Wu soldiers to shoot back with guns and stones, and forcing the Wu soldiers to be vigilant at all times, and not daring to take it lightly.

In such a tug-of-war and consumption, the casualties of the Qing army, which had a large number of civilian houses and courtyards to hide, were naturally small, but they successfully consumed a lot of the physical strength of the Wu army officers and soldiers, exhausted the mental state of the Wu army officers and soldiers, and laid a solid foundation for the real attack. The Wu army suffered from the fact that the main force had too few soldiers, and the auxiliary army was weak and unreliable, even if they knew the intentions of the Qing army, they did not dare to relax too much, and their mental state and physical reserves were greatly affected.

The Wu army on the side of Zhengyangmen is not much better, in the case of the monk and the prince constantly launching ant attacks, the soldiers of the Wu army also have to fight hard to resist the Qing army's siege, and the physical consumption is greater and more. However, fortunately, a large number of enemies can be killed, and the strength of the enemy outside Zhengyangmen can be gradually weakened, and the auxiliary soldiers can also be trained and grown in the easy and easy-to-fight city defense battle, and at the same time, the physical strength consumed by the Qing army is also more and greater, and the morale and fighting spirit will also be seriously weakened in the face of a large number of casualties, so when the Qing army really makes a fierce attack, the Wu soldiers on the Zhengyangmen side will only be the most relaxed, and the pressure will be the least.

In Zeng Guoquan's material, the tug of war was consumed to almost four o'clock in the afternoon, with the order of the old fox of Guanwen, the Qing army on the battlefield of Chongwenmen and Xuanwumen really suddenly exerted force, and the artillery fire of the Qing army, which had only occasionally opened intensively, suddenly used a large number of black powder flowering shells and a little bitter acid shells, focusing on bombarding the wall section directly above the city gate, and the shrapnel produced after the explosion of the flowering shells flew horizontally, and the Wu soldiers who were squatting behind the arrow stacks to avoid the solid shells were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses immediately.

"Climb down! Climb down! All for me to climb on the walls! ”

The generals at all levels of the Wu army shouted anxiously, but the veterans of the Wu army said that they had already climbed on the city wall without the generals shouting, so as to minimize the probability of being shot by shrapnel. However, the Wu army's auxiliaries, who were seriously inexperienced, shouted and screamed, and it was difficult to hear the general's command clearly in the successive explosions.

The situation was critical, and the Wu artillery, which was originally mainly used to block the road, could only hastily adjust the direction of the muzzle, and use the black powder shells captured from the treasury of the Manchu military headquarters to fire back, focusing on bombarding the Qing artillery positions, and the artillery strategy was changed to suppress the Qing artillery fire. The Qing army also quickly adjusted, dedicating part of its firepower to suppress the Wu artillery.

In the case of continuous shells coming from each other's positions, the Qing gunners were calm and calm, their movements were swift, and the shells were fired quickly and accurately, and their technology was no longer comparable to that of the past. Although the gunner performance of Zeng Guoquan's army, which can only be regarded as a quasi-first-class Wu army, is not bad, his experience and technology are always inferior to that of the Wu army.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Wu artillery could not block the road with crossfire, the Qing infantry also began to charge forward, with a large force directly attacking the stone bridge across the river, and a small group of soldiers crossing the river on ice, either carrying gunpowder to storm the city gate, or carrying a flying ladder to impact the city wall, directly impacting the top of the city wall and striving to blow up the city gate with gunpowder.

Thanks to the fact that Zeng Guoquan's army is best at fighting defensive battles, in the case of a sudden increase in pressure and a chaotic auxiliary army, the main officers and men of Zeng Guoquan's army were still not flustered, and quickly got up to meet the battle, while using rotational tactics to form dense firepower to meet the Qing infantry, while falling rocks and trees to protect the weak points of the city gate, smashing the Qing army difficult to get close. At the same time, the Wu army auxiliaries commanded by the veterans of the Wu army also gradually came back to their senses under the constraints of the officers and the pressure of the supervising team, and began to pick up sheep's head stones to smash the Qing soldiers who climbed the ladder, and gradually began to share the pressure of defending the city for the main soldiers of the Wu army.

The artillery roared, the guns were like hemp, and the Qing army of Zhili, which had gradually been trained in actual combat, advanced bravely, and continued to position the Wu army, and the Qing artillery and the Qing soldiers hiding in the streets of the houses also fired frantically, desperately sharing the pressure for the commando. However, it is very regrettable that in front of the Zeng Guoquan army, which is famous for its good defense, the sacrifice of the Qing soldiers has become useless, one after another by the tenacious Wu soldiers knocked down and killed, smashed and smashed, and the Qing soldiers who stormed the city gate did not have any chance to pile up gunpowder, basically they were killed and repelled before they could touch the city gate, and they could not make any breakthrough after a long battle.

The monk army that was still in the limelight was still the monk king, and with the momentum brought by the sudden force of the battlefield on both wings, the monk army, which had been deliberately indulged by the Wu army, was so aggressive that it once killed the Wu army by surprise, creating a miracle of no less than twenty people rushing to the top of the city wall at the same time. Although it was still quickly killed and retreated by the main force of the Wu army, it still fought better and more beautifully than the Qing army of Chongwenmen and Xuanwumen on the surface, and the monk and the prince were proud, and he also became more and more determined that his tactics were the most correct, and he believed that it was a fool to believe that the devil six and the old prince Hui and others jointly promoted the official Wen as handsome! Water in the head!

The battle situation in front of him continued to be transmitted to the official text, although the official text was quiet on the surface, but in his heart he became more and more worried, and he was more and more worried that once his surprise tactics of only one chance failed, it would be even more difficult to break through the city head-on. To add insult to injury, it happened that at this time, Yi Xing'a, the temporary commander of the Western Front of the Qing Army, finally sent an urgent report that the mutiny of the Fu-Zhang coalition army had led to the successful entry of the Wu army into the hinterland of Zhili.

Hearing the bad news, the old fox of Guanwen, who had just died tragically with his family yesterday, had a dark eye in front of him, and almost fainted on the spot, after forcibly pressing the table to support it, Guanwen chewed his lips and bleed, and said word by word to the devil Zi Liu and Hui Lao Wang Ye and others who were already all like earth: "Don't worry, princes, we still have a chance, and there is still time, as long as we can recapture the inner city before the Shanxi Wu thieves rush to the capital, we don't need to send troops to fight a decisive battle, just hold on to the city, and consume and kill the Shanxi Wu thieves who have no food and grass supply!" ”

As the official document said, there was still hope for the Qing army, which was to recapture Beijing Mancheng before Zeng Guoquan's army received reinforcements, and recapture the mountains of grain, grass and materials in the city, so as to defend the attack and wear down the logistically strapped Wu army. However, it is very regrettable that although the main force of the Qing army under the command of Guan Wen has made great progress, and the weapons and equipment are far from being comparable to the past, the tall and strong city wall of the city is still a huge obstacle that is difficult for the Qing army officers to overcome.

The sky gradually began to darken, and Dechun, Sanxingbao and Wang Shiyi, who were ordered to lead the headquarters army to sleep peacefully, prepared for the night battle, and then came back to the official text to order, the official text first explained his strange tactics to them, and then suddenly left the table, and walked to Dechun, Sanxingbao and Wang Shiyi, the three generals knelt down on their knees, and the three generals were shocked, and quickly knelt down to return the salute, while exclaiming: "Lord Taiwan, what are you doing here?" Trying to kill us? ”

"Three generals, the old man is not kneeling to you alone, the old man is still kneeling to you for the Qing court and the people of the whole Qing Dynasty."

The official voice was choked, and he said with tears in his eyes: "The old man will not hide it from you, climbing the water pass to attack the city is the only tactic that the old man can come up with to quickly break the city, and it is also the only way for our Qing army to quickly recover the inner city, if you fail, the consequences will be unimaginable." Therefore, the old man has no other way but to kowtow to you for the Qing court and the Qing subjects, and I beg you to do this, turn things around, and save my Qing dynasty from the moment of life and death. Please, old man. ”

After that, the official text kowtowed to Dechun and Sanxingbao and other generals, and the devil six over there did not hesitate to get up and kneel, and also kowtowed to Dechun and other generals, Dechun, Sanxingbao and Wang Shiyi three generals cried loudly, and they also kowtowed desperately to return the official text and the devil six, crying: "Don't worry, don't worry, the prince can rest assured, even if the last general is fighting to the last soldier, he must break through the water barrier and kill the inner city to receive the imperial army into the city!" ”

Crying bitterly, Dechun and the other generals bowed three times, rushed to the front line with the fresh army under their command, and began to arrange the surprise attack tactics of preparing the official document under the cover of night. Guan Wen kowtowed again in the direction of the north, and muttered in his heart: "Chen Guorui, the old man also pleases you, the south gate is the main battlefield, Wu thieves are gathered, even if you succeed in climbing the water pass, it will be difficult to receive miraculous results for a while, if you succeed on your side, you can really kill Wu thieves by surprise." ”

…………

At the same time, in the city, in view of the development of the war situation, Zeng Guoquan also categorically gave up the plan of sending new troops to the city for rotation, and also sent people to the three gates in the south to send an order, requiring Zhang Shiri, Ni Gui and Liu Lianjie to continue to hold the position in the south and not leave a single step.

As a result, Zhang Zhidong, who was trying to march and fight, of course asked very strangely: "Jiu Shuai, our army on the front line is already very tired, why don't you replace them to rest, and let them continue to hold on?" ”

"Because the rebel army does not have a rotation of new troops." Zeng Guoquan replied: "The main army under the command of the old thief is four times that of us, and he has always refused to rotate the new force, which means that he may have two plans, the first is that he intends to use wheel warfare to wear us down, and if we rotate the new force to the city too early, it will only play into his hands." ”

"The second plan is the most dangerous." Zeng Guoquan added: "It's just that he has some way to highlight the surprise army, and he plans to leave all the new forces for the last use, so I can't rush to use the new forces to go to the city, and I must leave the new forces to prevent accidents." ”

"What will the old thief of Guanwen do to highlight the surprise soldiers?" Zhang Zhidong asked again.

"If only I knew." Zeng Guoquan frowned and said: "It is definitely too late to dig tunnels to attack the city, it is most likely to sneak up to the city from a certain section of the city wall of the east, west and north cities, but it is too slow to climb the city wall and invest troops, we have Ding Ruchang's cavalry to maneuver quickly in the city, but I am not very worried, I am only worried about what we don't know about the flaws in the inner city of Beijing, so that the rebel army can quickly and quietly enter the city in large numbers, then we will be difficult to parry." ”

"It's a pity that when I was in the capital, I always lived in the outer city, and I was not familiar with the inner city." Zhang Zhidong said a little helplessly, and said: "But even if I live in the inner city, it's useless, I am strictly controlled by my cousin in the capital, and I basically don't have the opportunity to go out and play......." ”

When he was about to finish speaking, Zhang Zhidong was suddenly stunned, suddenly remembered a big event, and exclaimed: "Could it be that the old fox of Guanwen plans to climb the water pass?" ”

"What is a water climb?" Zeng Guoquan hurriedly asked again.

"I don't know, I just know that I can go out of town at night." Zhang Zhidong hurriedly said: "When I lived in my cousin's house, I occasionally heard from a subordinate in his family that he once went to the Yamen of the Ministry of Rites with my cousin on an errand, and had to live in the yamen with too much official business, and he was afraid that the family would be worried, so he asked him to rush home to report the news, but he walked a step slower The city gate was closed, so he had to climb the water and go out of the city, making his whole body stinky and almost being called Huazi by the people patrolling the five cities. ”

"Then you immediately go to the locals and ask, what is the water climbing pass? Is it true that you can go in and out of the inner city directly?! Zeng Guoquan roared angrily.

Zhang Zhidong agreed, and quickly went to the locals to inquire about the situation of the water pass, but fortunately, after the Wu army took over the Nanfu Yamen, he still retained some of the servants to do rough work, Zhang Zhidong asked these people about the situation of the water pass, and immediately a servant said: "Master, the water pass is to take the drainage canal under the city wall, which is used to drain the rainwater into the moat when it rains heavily, and you can walk when the water is small in the dry season." ”

"Can you go in and out of the city?" Zhang Zhidong hurriedly asked.

"Pretty much." The servant replied truthfully, "There is an iron fence in the water gate, but the gap is so wide that people who are not too fat can pass it sideways." ”

Before the servant's words were finished, Zhang Zhidong had already grabbed him, pulled him and rushed directly into Zeng Guoquan's handsome hall, forcing him to immediately repeat what he had just said, but Zeng Guoquan was shocked when he heard it, and hurriedly asked, "Where is the water?" Do you know the location? ”

"Back to the general, the little one only knows the two water passes, and the rest don't know."

The servant's answer made Zeng Guoquan and Zhang Zhidong even paler, and they also shouted in unison: "There is more than one water gate in the inner city of Beijing? How many are there? ”

"Yes, I've heard that there are several, but the small ones only know two." The servant replied truthfully.

Zeng Guoquan's face turned pale, and he hurriedly sent his own soldiers to take this servant to see Zhu Hongzhang, who led the reserve, and asked Zhu Hongzhang to immediately send someone to block the water pass, and at the same time sent someone to quickly inquire about the specific situation of the water pass in Beijing, and how many other damn secret passages there were, and where was the specific location?

The results of learning almost didn't make Zeng Guoquan faint, under the walls of Beijing's full city, there were secretly hidden seven drainage culverts, each of which could be used for marching troops, and it was far away from the city walls distributed in the northeast and west. Frightened, Zeng Guoquan no longer dared to hesitate, and immediately sent people to inform Zhu Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang, so that they could quickly block the secret road of the Qing army into the city.

When the soldiers of the Wu army, who were very unfamiliar with the terrain, raced against time to find the underground tunnels in the capital to block, the Qing army had also begun a sneak attack, and the Qing army general Wang Shiyi personally led an elite assault team from the Piku camp to sneak to the underground drainage canal west of Xuanwu Gate; Samsung Bao walked the dark road directly north of the glass factory, which was also led by Samsung Bao himself; Dechun divided his troops into two roads, touching the dark passages along the East River and the North Mutton Hutong. As a result, because the sky was already dark, and the Qing army was still frantically attacking the three gates of the southern city, the soldiers of the Wu army on the city wall still didn't know anything......

The southern side of the city may be better, at least the Wu army is more concentrated, and the east and north sides are the real danger, Chen Guorui, the general of the Qing army who had already received the secret order before departure, divided into three routes, and acted in unison according to the time stipulated in the official document, respectively from the Fahua Nunnery, Nanshui Hutong and Xiangtang Hutong, the three drainage tunnels secretly marched into the city, and sneaked into the city. On these sections of the city wall, the soldiers of the Wu army not only did not have many troops, the defense was not strict, and there were not even a few truly reliable main soldiers......

Bell, there was a soft sound in the dark passage, and the deputy general of the Qing army, Samsung Bao, who was walking in the front in the dark, was the first to touch the wide iron fence, but there was no movement in front of the dark and foul-smelling dark passage, and there was no light, and the smug smile immediately appeared on the face of Samsung Bao, who was not a good thing when he heard the name......

(Note: The situation of climbing the water pass is not a fiction of the author, when the Eight-Nation Alliance, the British army was guided by the people of the capital, from the East River along this underground tunnel into the city of Beijing, there are still photos remaining, interested friends can find their own look.) ）