Affected by the flooding of the Yellow River and the destruction of the natural water system, the rainfall was scarce in early winter, and finally Hu Huaizhao, who was damaged and immoral, made his subordinates deliberately make trouble, and rushed to build a temporary dam to block the river.

The groundwater in the area is quite abundant, and there are many wells in the city, so even if it is no longer possible to draw water from the river, the well water alone can barely cope with daily use, and eating and drinking will not be affected. However, for the current Tai'an military and civilians, the importance of the Pan River is far more than that, without the protection of the Pan River, the only Tai'an South Gate that did not dig trenches and build peripheral fortifications, immediately like a delicate lamb, completely exposed to the fangs of the hungry wolf of the Wu army Hu Huaizhao, and the Tai'an city wall, which was once out of reach of the Wu army's soldiers, was also completely exposed to the guns of the Wu army's soldiers.

Fortunately, the south gate of Tai'an is just not protected by peripheral fortifications, and the most basic city walls, city towers, moats and sheep and horse walls and other city fortifications are still very perfect, and there are also two forts, which can be placed for heavy artillery shooting. Therefore, even if they were caught off guard by the lack of morality of the Wu army, the soldiers and civilians of Tai'an did not lose confidence and courage, and still made every effort to strengthen the defense of the south gate under the command of Liu Yingjie and Baisheng, and raced against time to send all kinds of materials to the city for the defenders to use.

At the same time, the Wu army also began to prepare for the war, in addition to seizing the time to prepare various siege weapons, the army also rushed to build a large amount of dry food and torches, preparing to fight day and night for a long time. In addition, Hu Huaizhao was very careful to send an auxiliary army out of the camp, carrying bundles of straw branches to the Pan River to open up a road, and using straw bundles and branches to pave the smooth riverbed and sticky mud, so that the soldiers of the Wu army could directly rush to the city of Tai'an to attack the city.

The outpost battle of the Tai'an War began, in order to hit the Wu army and boost morale, to add difficulty to the Wu army's siege, the Tai'an Qing army decisively shot at the Wu army auxiliaries who came to pave the road first, and shot the Wu army cannon fodder that was basically composed of all the Taiping army soldiers, the Wu army auxiliaries were difficult to fight back, and they could only carefully avoid the guns and shells of the Qing army, while shooting back as much as possible, covering the companions to pave the road, and the area around the south gate of Tai'an was therefore a continuous gun for a while, bullets flew sideways, and the long-range shooting was very happy.

After all, the Qing army has a huge geographical advantage, has always had the absolute upper hand in the outpost battle, with dense bullets and fierce artillery fire to the Wu army auxiliaries caused serious casualties, the corpses of the Wu army auxiliaries spread all over the river, the wounded who were shot in the cannon cried and screamed, and constantly fled in embarrassment, in the end, because the casualties were too great, the Wu army auxiliaries also had to temporarily stop the river paving operation, and fled to the range of the defenders' artillery fire in a mess to stand by. The soldiers and civilians of Tai'an on the city wall also shook the sky with joy and morale.

Bai Sheng, the commander of the Qing army who came to the front line to command the battle, was also very satisfied with the performance of his soldiers in the outpost battle, and felt that although a lot of ammunition was wasted, after all, it still dampened the spirit of the Wu army, which was very conducive to the real decisive battle in the future. So in addition to quickly asking the Qing soldiers to pay attention to saving ammunition, Baisheng shouted to the Qing soldiers: "See? Wu rebel thief army, like Changmao, is also flesh and blood, still afraid of our guns and shells, as long as we continue to fight like this, we will definitely be able to hold the south gate and hold out until reinforcements arrive! The Qing Dynasty will win! Taian will win! We will win! ”

"The Qing Dynasty will win! Taian will win! We will win! The soldiers of the Qing army shouted loudly, everyone looked resolute and determined, and they were indeed full of confidence in guarding the south gate of Tai'an.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, after having eaten as much as possible a sumptuous lunch, the main force of Hu Huaizhao's department of the Wu army began to assemble out of the camp, and mobilized 14 battalions of 7,000 troops to launch a siege operation, and also pulled more than 150 long-range heavy guns, including 30 rear-loading rifled guns, to the front of the formation, and lined up in front of the south gate of Tai'an.

After quickly arranging the array, at three o'clock, the artillery bombardment of the Wu army suddenly began, and more than 150 long-range heavy artillery guns opened fire together, bombarding all kinds of shells at the head of Tai'an City.

Bang! Bang! Boom Boom!

In the continuous explosion of cannons, the cannonballs of the Wu army came out one after another, or flew to the head of Tai'an City, or smashed into the city wall of Tai'an South Gate, and many cannonballs directly crossed the city wall and smashed into the city, bouncing on the ground, invincible, and the person was killed immediately! The black powder shells continued to explode, shrapnel flew sideways, and the soldiers of the Qing army who were unfortunately shot by shrapnel were splashed with blood and flesh, either dead or wounded! And the most showy is still the picric acid shell, after the explosion not only more shrapnel more fierce, the burst of flames can also directly injure people and things, the first to bear the brunt of the Tai'an South Gate City Tower almost in the blink of an eye burst out of the fire, the city is also full of fire, the city on the city behind the Tai'an soldiers and civilians therefore ran and shouted, suddenly into a mess.

"It's on fire! Splash water! Splash water! Don't let the fire burn! ”

"The water can't be extinguished! The cannonballs of the thief army have demon methods, and the fire and water that come out can't be extinguished! ”

"Help! Help me! I'm on fire! ”

The first time encountered the bitter acid shells of the Tai'an soldiers and civilians screamed screamed, the Wu army's paving action also took the opportunity to start again, the auxiliary soldiers once again carried the grass bundle branches forward to pave the riverbed, although the Qing soldiers on the city wall also struggled to shoot and suppress, but can no longer beat the previous mighty momentum, most of the bullets fired in a hurry are outrageous, the artillery fire is no longer as continuous and fierce as before, and at the same time after exposing the artillery position, the artillery fire of the Wu army also began to focus on hitting the artillery of the Qing army, In less than 10 minutes, it successfully hit a Qing artillery gun loaded with gunpowder, causing a martyrdom and killing and injuring several Qing gunners.

"Didn't you say that Wu Thief's soldiers and horses were just partial teachers? Why is the firepower more powerful than Shi Dakai's firepower with that big long hair?! ”

Shocked by the tremendous power of the picric acid shells, the commander of the Qing army, Bai Sheng, even felt that the firepower of the Wu army's partial division was even more terrifying than the main force of the Taiping Army's Northern Expedition. As a commander, Yum had this feeling, and the rest of the Tai'an soldiers and civilians were naturally even more shocked in their hearts, and the confidence in victory that they had built up with great difficulty was greatly shaken, and they no longer dared to believe that the army would be able to hold out until the reinforcements arrived, and the morale of the army was seriously affected.

The Wu army prepared for an hour with long-range artillery fire before stopping firing, and then took advantage of the fact that the sky was still bright enough, and the Wu army auxiliaries, who had successfully paved the offensive road, stepped forward again and rushed to the moat outside the south gate of Tai'an to repair the temporary fortifications, and the Qing army, which had already suffered heavy casualties in the shelling, hurriedly shot and suppressed, but it could no longer effectively suppress the Wu army's fortification preparations, forcing Baisheng to mobilize the reserves in advance to go to the city to strengthen the firepower. However, the firepower of the Taiping army on the city wall had just intensified, and the Wu army ordered the flag to wave, and the Wu army auxiliaries who rushed to repair the fortifications immediately fell to the ground to avoid the artillery, and the huge artillery team of the Wu army took advantage of the situation to open fire, and once again bombarded the head of the south gate of Tai'an, where the personnel began to dense again, and the Qing army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.

Seeing this scene, Bai Sheng, the commander of the Qing army hiding behind the arrow battlements, couldn't help but feel a feeling of almost despair, not knowing whether he should choose to suppress the Wu army to repair the fortifications at any cost, or choose to give priority to preserving his strength and let the Wu army rush to repair the forward fortifications. In the end, considering that there were not many available troops in his hands, Baisheng could only grit his teeth, withdraw the reserves from the city wall again, and give up fire suppression, while the Wu army auxiliaries took the opportunity to dig and build bomb-sheltering fortifications, so that the soldiers had something to rely on when they rushed to the city.

The days in autumn and winter are short, and the sky has begun to darken before six o'clock, and the Wu army, which has successfully repaired some bomb-avoiding fortifications, has dispatched some soldiers to step forward, rushing to the city to prepare for fire cover, knowing that the Wu army is ready to exert force at night, Baisheng also hurriedly dispatched troops to strengthen the defense of the city, and instructed the subordinates on duty in the south city: "Be sure to pay attention to the city!" Wu rebel thieves like to dig holes directly in the city wall to blow up the city, the city gate has been blocked, the thief army will use this tonight, keep an eye on the below, found that there are Wu rebel thieves digging the city wall, immediately throw gunpowder torches, blow up and burn the gang of bitches! ”

After that, Yum hurriedly went down the city and left the South Gate - the reason for leaving was not that Yum was afraid of death, but that the city could not do without Yum's central command, and at the same time, when necessary, Yum might have to personally lead the army out of the city to assault and share the pressure on the South Gate battlefield.

After it was dark, under the cover of the fire of the Wu army on the forward position, the sappers of the Wu army stepped forward in a big way, or used the trench bridge to grab the bridge on the moat, or rushed to the city wall to dig the blast hole under the cover of the night, and because the sound of guns and cannons covered the sound of excavation, it was difficult for the Qing army to judge the location of the Wu army's excavation by the sound, so it could only keep throwing down torches and straw bundles to light the city, and the consumption of materials for defending the city was rapid and huge.

When the Wu army's auxiliaries set up more than a dozen trench bridge vehicles on the moat, another battalion of Wu soldiers stepped forward with flying ladders and directly launched the most cruel ant-attached war, striving to directly break the city with ants, and also used flesh and blood to cover the sappers to dig holes.

Wu Jun's ant attached battle received an effect that made Hu Huaizhao overjoyed, before the Tai'an Qing army had fought a lot of city defense battles, but the previous Taiping army launched several sieges were all crypt sieges, never fought that ant attached attack, so after encountering the Wu army soldiers who dared to directly impact the city, the Tai'an Qing army suddenly had a feeling of being in a hurry, and the efficiency of counterattack and suppression was quite small, Wu Jun was only the first time that the ant attached to the city was attacked, and someone rushed directly to the city! - Of course, it was immediately defeated by the Tai'an Qing army, which was not too bad.

First of all, the warriors who went to the city failed to succeed in gaining a foothold, although it was a pity, but it was enough for Hu Huaizhao and other Wu army commanders, knowing that there was great hope for not only directly blowing up the Tai'an city wall tonight, but also having a certain possibility of relying on ants to attack the city. On the contrary to Hu Huaizhao, the Qing army generals who were guarding the south gate were in a hurry, and had to hurriedly send people into the city to report to Baisheng, saying that the Wu army's offensive was too fierce to parry, and it was impossible to stop the Wu army's sappers and rats from digging under the city.

"I can only send troops to rush. Otherwise, let the thieves dig a hole and blow down the city wall, and we will not be able to stop it! ”

Forced to have no choice, Baisheng could only make up his mind and send people out of the city to give the city guard order, so that the defenders of the east and west gates of the city launched a surprise attack, reinforced the south gate and the Wu army to fight a field battle, and shared the pressure for the main battlefield of the south gate. At the same time, Baisheng gritted his teeth and gave orders to the defenders outside the north gate, asking them to use the cover of night to raid the temporary dam of the Wu army in Buxiling, in a vain attempt to destroy the dam and let the water of the Pan River block the Wu army's siege footsteps.

It's a pity that Yum's two hands are all expected by Hu Huaizhao, who is also an old sparrow on the battlefield, and at the same time in the field battle, the Tai'an Qing army, which only dared to take a defensive position when fighting with the Taiping army, was more of the opponent of the Wu army, and the Qing army that killed the south gate from the east and west gates had not been able to turn the corner of the city wall, and it had been blown up by the Wu soldiers stationed on both wings with grenadiers to cry wolf howls, chickens and dogs jumped, and then they were killed and wounded by the platoon guns of the Wu army soldiers, and fell in rows, and several charges failed to rush through the Wu army's blockade. In the end, the two wings simply routed together, and the embarrassed fled together to hide in the distance.

Also tragic is the Tai'an Qing army that went to attack the temporary dam of the Wu army, and before they saw the situation of the temporary dam of the Wu army, they were already beaten all over the ground by the soldiers of the Wu army who were waiting for the battle, not to mention the sudden destruction of the temporary dam fortifications of the Wu army, but it was difficult to get close to the Wu army's blocking position.

When the Wu army on this side of Buxiling trampled the Qing army commando under their feet and rubbed it, the soldiers of the Wu army who were attached to the siege of the city were also constantly successfully rushing to the top of the city wall, but because the Qing army threw gunpowder at any cost to block, the Wu army's ant soldiers have not been able to make great progress, but they have also successfully covered the sappers to dig the blast hole, and at the same time forced the Qing army to send reserves to the city again to strengthen the defense, so that Baisheng has fewer and fewer cards to play.

Baisheng, who had successfully blocked Shi Dakai's main force, was indeed a good general, and when it was close to the third watch, after discovering that the situation was not good through various military intelligence reports and clues, Baisheng could only say to Liu Yingjie: "Liu Zhentai, I'm afraid it won't work tonight, we are struggling just to resist the ant-attached attack of the thief army, let alone block the thief army from blowing up the city wall." To put it mildly, if we don't survive before dawn, the walls may be blown up by the thieves. ”

"Baititai, is there no way?"

Liu Yingjie asked with a pale face, and seeing Yum nodding solemnly, Liu Yingjie's face became even paler, and asked, "Then what should I do?" Do you continue to grit your teeth and hold on, or do you make a decision early? ”

"Of course, continue to grit my teeth and persevere, until the last moment, I will never give up." Baisheng shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "It's just the grain and grass in the city, Liu Zhentai, you have to make up your mind early, when you really can't stop it, should we burn it down?" Or should it stay? ”

Liu Yingjie was silent, and only after a while did he ask rhetorically: "Baititai, what do you mean?" ”

"For the sake of the imperial court and the Qing Dynasty, we should burn it." Baisheng replied: "But for our own sake, as well as the soldiers under our command, we can't burn it, if it is burned, the thief army will definitely be furious and will never let us go, and the soldiers under our command, Wu Rebel Thief Army is so angry that he can do anything." ”

Speaking of this, Baisheng paused, then lowered his voice slightly, and said in a heavy tone: "To put it mildly, I'm not afraid of death, after burning the grain, even if I can't run away and be cut by the demon soldiers, I will be loyal to the court." But my soldiers will be affected by me, most of them have accompanied us through the past few years, and have been used as cattle and horses for us to survive several strong attacks! ”

When he said these words, there were already tears flashing in the corners of Yum's eyes, and Liu Yingjie was silent for a long time, until he heard the three watches, Liu Yingjie said in a hoarse voice: "The famine in Shandong is already serious, and if we still have to burn life-saving food, it will hurt Yin and morality too much." ”

"Then we're ......?"

Yum didn't finish asking, so he closed his mouth, and Liu Yingjie, who had been his partner for several years, nodded, and they all decided to leave a way for themselves to survive.

"Boom Rumble ——!"

At this moment, there was an extraordinary terrifying loud noise suddenly from the south gate, and then you could vaguely hear the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground, as well as the boiling noise of people, hearing these sounds, Yum and Liu Yingjie couldn't help but sigh, knowing that Tai'an was finally broken, and the self-army still failed to replicate the glorious miracle that blocked Shi Dakai's main force, but fortunately, Liu Yingjie and Baisheng, who were very popular in the Tai'an area, knew in their hearts that Tai'an fell into the hands of the Wu army, how could it be a hundred times stronger than falling into the hands of the Taiping army.

Liu Yingjie and Baisheng's tacit decision did save the Tai'an Qing army and themselves and their families, and Hu Huaizhao, who had just seen the self-army sappers blow down the city wall with Dana explosives, and commanded the siege in front of the battle, immediately sent troops forward to launch a surprise attack, and kept yelling: "Rush into the city!" Prioritize the protection of the granary! The rebel army dares to set fire to the grain, see one and kill the other! Don't let any of them go! You must keep the granary for Lao Tzu! ”

"Liu Yingjie! Yum! You two bitches, if you dare to set fire to the grain, Lao Tzu will execute your whole family Ling Chi, and cut your whole family to death one by one with a knife! Hu Huaizhao was still screaming like this with his teeth and claws, and his expression was as hideous as if he was a Shura demon from hell.