The bitter battle of the Balijiang Taiping Army was not in vain, at least it gave the Hukou Taiping Army the opportunity to send a clipper to warn the downstream, so that the downstream Taiping Army could prepare for the battle in advance, and it also gave Peng Ze's Taiping Army, which was targeted by the Wu Army, a little time to react. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Like Shi Dakai, Huang Wenjin never expected that the Wu army would bypass the mouth of the lake and go straight downstream, so although Peng Ze's Taiping army had been prepared for the bloody revenge of the Wu army, it was still a little caught off guard, and Huang Wenjin had to hastily hold a combat meeting to discuss how to meet the attack of the Wu army.

Like when Zeng Guofan led the Hunan army to fight Peng Ze, the biggest hidden danger on the battlefield of Peng Ze is still the steep stone mountain in the south of the city, after the Hunan army captured the damn stone mountain, it just moved some primitive front-loading smoothbore guns to the top of the mountain, and bombarded Peng Ze City to the ground, day and night are not peaceful, this will be if the Wu army, which is stronger and more fierce in firepower, follow the example of the Hunan army back then, Peng Ze's Taiping army will definitely have a worse life.

Therefore, at the combat meeting, the generals of Peng Ze's Taiping Army unanimously decided that if they want to keep Peng Ze, they must first keep the damn stone mountain that was born as an artillery position, and if the South Gate Stone Mountain is lost, Peng Ze's Taiping Army will be defeated!

Fortunately, learning the lessons of the last war, Peng Ze Taiping Army has also done a lot of work over the years, in addition to making every effort to improve the fortifications, and spent a lot of effort to dig a number of large reservoirs on the mountain, which are full of drinking water for the needs of the army at any time, plus the time is spring, and there is more precipitation, so Peng Ze Taiping Army does not need to worry about the defenders of Stone Mountain being cut off from water sources and defeating themselves like last time, Huang Wenjin also decisively handed over the responsibility of guarding Stone Mountain to his younger brother Huang Wenying, Huang Wenying was asked to hold the Shishan position at any cost, and not to give the Wu army a chance to seize Shishan and cover the entire city of Pengze with firepower.

Huang Wenying received the order loudly, and then proposed: "Brother, if nothing else, the army that surpasses the little demon is here for revenge, and it is a lone army, and it will inevitably strive for a quick victory, can we use this to make some fuss and kill the little demon by surprise?" ”

"How to make a fuss?" Huang Wenjin asked rhetorically.

"Pengze City faces the river in the north, and the mountains in the south, only the east and west of the city are suitable for garrisoning troops and launching troops to attack the city." Huang Wenying analyzed: "Among the two places in the east and west of the city, the terrain in the west of the city is the most open, and the army that surpasses the little demon comes from the west, and the camp in the west of the city is relatively the largest, if this is the case, then our opportunity has come." ”

"The area around Gaojiazui on the western outskirts of Pengze is high and densely forested, and the terrain is complex, which is very suitable for burying ambushes. If we ambush an elite army in Gaojiazui, and then surpass the little demon's army to attack the stone mountain in the south of the city, we will definitely have to divide our troops to guard against our defenders in the city, the rear is empty, our ambush soldiers suddenly kill, surprise attack their rear camp, even if you want to win the battle, it is difficult to win? ”

After carefully analyzing the tactics proposed by Huang Wenying, he felt that it was quite reliable, even if he failed, he could allow the commandos to take advantage of the complex terrain in the southern suburbs of Pengze City to move calmly, Huang Wenjin immediately adopted this tactic, and ordered the love general Chen Zhongli to lead three hundred elites to follow the plan, carrying dry food weapons and immediately rushing to Gaojiazui to ambush, and also let Chen Zhongli decide the timing of the attack and attack the Wu army camp at his own discretion.

Prepare a nest bow to shoot tigers, and arrange fragrant bait to fish for fish. The dark arrows were prepared, and he used the time that the Balijiang Taiping Army exchanged for his life to prepare for the battle in advance, and Huang Wenjin, who was determined, was no longer panicked, but just sent more scouts to reconnoiter the movements of the Wu army and patiently waited for the arrival of the Wu army.

The Wu army, which went east from the waterway, came very quickly, and rushed to the Pengze battlefield in the evening of the day it broke through the Bali River, and really chose to land fifteen miles away in the western suburbs of Pengze as Huang Wenying expected, and rushed to build temporary wharves and camps overnight, and transferred artillery, ammunition and other materials ashore. Huang Wenjin was overjoyed when he heard the news, and praised his younger brother for his anticipation of the enemy and his great progress.

There is also something that makes Huang Wenjin happy, when it was dark, Shi Dakai sent someone Huang Wenjin to get in touch again, and clearly instructed Huang Wenjin to stick to and wait for help, and clearly told Huang Wenjin that he would never see Peng Ze die without help, and he was already mobilizing Taiping troops from all over northern Jiangxi and southern Anhui to rush to Peng Ze for reinforcements, so that Huang Wenjin could rest assured that he would defend the city and drag the advance of the Wu army.

The character and credit are placed there, Shi Dakai's promise Huang Wenjin is of course trustworthy, and under the joy, Huang Wenjin also clearly told Shi Dakai's envoy, saying: "Go back and tell the Wing King 8,000 years old, I dare not guarantee that it will be too much, I can definitely keep it for a month, please ask him to hurry up and arrange reinforcements." ”

But there was also something that made Huang Wenjin's nest angry, after Shi Dakai's envoy left Pengze overnight, the next day when the sky was light, he actually returned to Pengze City - he was escorted to Pengze City by Wu soldiers and released in public, Huang Wenjin's letter to Shi Dakai was not only captured by Wu soldiers, Shi Dakai's envoy was also forced to bring back a letter from Wu Chaoyue.

The content of Wu Chaoyue's letter to Huang Wenjin is not verbose, the main thing is to remind the army of the importance to Huang Wenjin, and persuade Huang Wenjin to learn to be smart and run away with the army quickly, lest the army be exhausted and be settled by Hong Xiuquan after the autumn.

"Surpass the little demon, sow discord, shameless and despicable!"

After scolding and tearing Wu Chaoyue's letter to shreds, Huang Wenjin tried several times to drive the content of Wu Chaoyue's letter out of his mind, but failed, and faintly agreed with Wu Chaoyue's analysis - without the army, Hong Xiuquan could indeed find himself to settle accounts with the Autumn Queen. But fortunately, this recognition is not enough to shake Huang Wenjin's reason, and Huang Wenjin still has the determination and confidence to stick to Peng Ze for a long time.

The Wu army launched an attack much earlier than Huang Wenjin expected, only after preparing some necessary equipment for the attack, it was only at noon that day, the Wu army dispatched an army of more than 6,000 people to kill Peng Ze in one go, and at the same time, the Jiujiang Naval Division of the Wu army also sent five red single boats to the west to help, leaving only the steam cannon ships and sampan fleets to protect the land and water camps.

After receiving the report, Huang Wenjin immediately climbed the Ximen Tower in Pengze County and raised his binoculars to observe the preparations for the Shishan battlefield in the south. Huang Wenjin nodded with satisfaction, and then used the telescope to observe the advance of the Wu army, but looking at it, Huang Wenjin gradually became dumbfounded, and blurted out: "How is it possible?" ”

"How is that possible?!"

Huang Wenying also exclaimed from the Shishan position, because he, like Huang Wenjin, had already discovered that the direction of the Wu army's advance was not the key position of the Shishan position, but directly towards Peng Zeximen! Dumbfounded, Huang Wenying couldn't help but exclaim again, "Attack the city directly? The army that surpasses the little demon is so confident? ”

The real reason why the Huang brothers were shocked is, of course, that the city of Pengze is far more difficult to fight than the stone mountain position, under Huang Wenjin's years of operation, the city wall of Suzhou City has already been two zhang thick, up to more than three zhang, even the most popular crypt blasting tactics are difficult to destroy, and at the same time, there are two deep trenches that introduce living water to protect, even if you want to get close to the city wall.

In addition, the cramped terrain also provides a lot of protection for Pengze City, the city wall is only more than three miles long from north to south, the Taiping army only needs to use a small number of troops to ensure that each battlement has soldiers stationed, at the same time, the Taiping army also built two stone sheep and horse walls outside the city to protect the entire west city wall, and two other forts and a number of bunkers to enhance firepower, the fortifications may not dare to compare with Lin Qirong's Hukou fortress, but it is definitely easy to defend and difficult to attack, impregnable.

Therefore, in addition to being shocked, Huang Wenjin and Huang Wenying and other Taiping Army generals couldn't help but have such thoughts, and said secretly: "Could it be that the demon general Cao Yanzhong underestimated the enemy?" If yes, that's great. ”

Cao Yanzhong, who personally commanded the siege battle, was indeed a little underestimated, and only divided two battalions of troops to monitor and guard against the Taiping army on the Shishan position, and immediately began to attack the city, and then when the Wu soldiers put out the artillery ready to be used in the siege battle, Huang Wenjin and other Taiping generals immediately felt that Cao Yanzhong was not underestimating the enemy, and sweat began to seep out of his forehead - because the artillery that the Wu army was going to use to bombard the small city of Pengze turned out to be thirty large-caliber artillery! Forty breech-loading rifled guns! And ten curved mortar cannons!

"Isn't it crazy to surpass the little demon? Shelling such a small city with so many oceans? ”

Although he had not received formal artillery training, based on the actual combat experience accumulated over the years, Huang Wenjin knew that the artillery put out by Wu Jun was by no means comparable to the original artillery in his hand, and the power was definitely greater than the small muzzle guns used by Wu Jun's naval division. But fortunately, Huang Wenjin was not frightened, no matter how frightened he was, he still ordered the defenders above and below the city to prepare for battle, and at the same time snorted coldly in his heart, "So many cannons, see how many cannons you can fight!" ”

By the way, the artillery shells produced by the Taiping Army at present are still pig iron shells infused with manpower mud, which take a long time, have a low yield and scarce production.

At 1:48 p.m., the siege of Wu's army was ready, and under the order of Cao Yanzhong, who followed Wu Chaoyue's command of the battle on horseback, thirty 140MM caliber heavy guns and forty rear-loading rifled guns opened fire together, bombarding the thirty-two-pound solid cannonballs and the three-pound bitter acid flowering cannonballs to the poor town of Pengze, and also to the Pengze Taiping army, which had vilely attacked the Wu army's baggage fleet half a month earlier.

Even if it is thousands of meters away, the roar of the Wu army's artillery still shook the eardrums of the Taiping army buzzing, and then, in the whistling sound, large and small shells smashed into the city one after another, and the 32-pound solid cannonballs hit the place, the arrow stacks were shattered, the wall bricks were broken, the earth and stones were splashed, and the cannonballs that fell to the top of the city wall bounced one after another, constantly hitting the Taiping soldiers who were lying on the ground to avoid the cannons, bringing wave after wave of flesh and blood, and a few shells directly hit the city tower of Peng Zexi Gate, and suddenly left several transparent holes in the city tower.

The 32-pound solid cannonball is like a mountain and a rock, and the three-pound flowering cannonball is like a thunderbolt, smashing the wall and exploding it, there are not only shrapnel flying sideways, harvesting the lives of the Taiping soldiers hiding in the dead corner, but also the flame jet with a temperature of up to 1,000 degrees, which can not only ignite a combustible thing, but also can attach to the earth and stone wall and burn, no less than ten particularly unlucky Taiping soldiers were directly covered by the bitter acid flames, screaming and rolling all over the ground and the flames were not extinguished, and they were burned alive and burned, and died a miserable death.

"There are only observation posts left in the city! Forts under the city, fire back! ”

Shouting these words, Huang Wenjin was forcibly erected down the city wall by his own soldiers, and the Taiping soldiers at the top of the city wall also hurriedly moved to the city, not daring to stay in the city and die in vain, and at the same time, the two Taiping army batteries under the city wall also mustered up the courage to fire back, and used the front-loading smoothbore guns that were not interchangeable with the original cannonballs, and the 32-pounder guns with the third largest caliber in the world and the most advanced rear-loading rifled flowering guns.

The well-trained Wu gunners did not rush to pay attention to the Taiping army's forts, but according to Cao Yanzhong's orders, they first fired three waves of salvos at Pengze City, and at the same time took the opportunity to confirm the location of the Taiping army's batteries with the triangular positioning method.

When shooting moving targets, the artillery hit rate of Wu Jun's gunners may not be high enough, but if the hit rate of hitting fixed targets is still below 10 percent, then Wu Jun's gunners are too sorry for Wu Chaoyue's military investment in them. In less than half an hour of free shooting, the two batteries of the Taiping Army were already shrouded in a sea of fire formed by bitter acid flames, and the soldiers of the Taiping Army on the platform did not want to continue to shoot artillery, but it was difficult to accommodate themselves on the batteries, and the six guns on the two batteries were completely dumb, and the gunners fled in embarrassment, completely losing the ability to return fire from a long range.

There is also the sheep and horse wall fortifications built by the Peng Ze Taiping army, the two sheep and horse walls made of stones are quite effective in preventing bullets, and there is no problem in blocking the mountain splitting cannons that the Qing army and the Hunan army like to use, but under the bombardment of the Wu army's thirty-two-pound solid shells, this kind of sheep and horse wall is not much different from the paper paste, as long as the large-caliber cannonballs of the Wu army hit, the chest-high sheep and horse walls either collapsed directly, or were directly cut out of a gap, the stones rolled down and fell, and the Taiping soldiers who were crawling behind the wall and preparing to meet were constantly killed and wounded, The screams continued. The seemingly impregnable stone defense line also continued to appear breaches, and then began to collapse in succession.

At the same time, the five red single boats of the Wu army also began to bombard the north gate of Pengze, and also adjusted the elevation angle of the gunwales to the highest very vicious, and the shells as much as possible directly bombarded into Pengze City, collecting the psychological effect of intimidating the enemy. The two northwestern fronts of the Taiping Army were attacked at the same time, and the hearts of the army and the people were in great panic.

Seeing that the situation was not good on the top of the stone mountain, in order to share the pressure for the defenders in the city, Huang Wenying, who was in charge of the stone mountain position, once had the courage to send troops down the mountain, in a vain attempt to break through the Wu army's blockade to assault the Wu army's artillery position, but the Taiping army commando team sent down the mountain by Huang Wenying quickly saw that the Wu army soldiers guarding the mountain not only showed their firing pin guns, but also put out a full fifty grenadiers......

"What kind of demon soldiers have we encountered? How can there be so many powerful weapons? This is the cry and question issued by countless Taiping soldiers in their hearts.